GERMAN COCKROACH. 99 
a figure, by which to recognise it, and some notes, consequently on 
enquiries sent me on its habits, as to how to get. rid of the (com- 
paratively) pretty little creature, may be of interest. 
The two kinds are very easily distinguishable; our ‘‘ Common 
Cockroach’ being usually little less than an inch in length when full 
grown, and of a uniform dark pitchy or dark mahogany colour, without 
lighter stripes or mottlings, and although the males are winged, the 
females are wingless. 
The ‘‘ German Cockroach”’ is at full size only a little over half an 
inch long, and though it varies in colour, it may be generally described 
as of a very light or yellowish brown, with two dark stripes running 
along the upper surface of the fore part of the body. These stripes 
are very noticeable (see figure, p. 28). Also both males and females 
are winged. 
The following note, sent me on March 19th by the superintendent 
of an hotel in one of our chief manufacturing towns in the north-west 
of England, shows the decided settlement of the infestation, as well as 
the trouble it is already inflicting * :— 
‘We are, like most other hotels, much troubled with what are known 
as ‘Steam Flies’; . . . they herd in kitchens, &c., and lodge beneath 
any crevice. The only method of extermination that has any effect 
is to send a man (who makes it his business) in to stove them; this is 
not only an expense, but a nuisance. . . . They increase in an 
alarming fashion ; the ordinary Cockroach remedies seem to be quite 
useless.”’ 
On May 6th, in reply to some further communication of my own, 
my correspondent wrote as follows :— 
“T tried the ‘Persian powder,’ but found it only to answer the 
same as Keating’s insect powder, which I have used a good deal. It 
stuns the insects only, and if not swept up and burnt, they come round 
again. Servants are careless, and if the dust-bin is nearer than the 
fire, they are thrown there, and come to life again. 
‘‘ Since writing to you, I have had the kitchen, scullery, and tea- 
room well stoved; the sulphur” [for methods of application, see 
heading of fumigation further on] ‘‘has killed a great number; yet, 
in spite of this, we still see them running about, and as they breed so 
quickly, I fear we shall soon swarm again. 
‘They seem to be able to eat their way through the walls and the 
floors, and infest the wood tables in kitchen and tea-room; they get 
into every crevice. After stoving the kitchen twice, I was very much 
* The enquiry being in business confidence, I do not publish name and locality 
of the hotel, but I may say it is not far from the coast, and precisely where these 
pests, which thrive on some of the steam passenger service from this country to 
America, might be likely to be found.—Ep. 
