2 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 658, 
indicating a certain national antipathy to rival countries as well as a 
fanciful idea as to origin, Still other names are ‘‘Spanier,”’ dating 
from the time of Charles V, and “‘ Dane,” from Denmark. 
DISTRIBUTION AND HISTORY. 
The roaches belong to a very extensive family, the Blattidee, com- 
paratively few of which, fortunately, have become domesticated. In 
temperate countries some four or five species are very common house- 
hold pests, and a few occur wild in the woods; but they are essentially 
inhabitants of warm countries, and in the Tropics the house species 
are very numerous, and the wild species occur in great number and 
Fic. 1.—The American roach (Periplaneta americana): a, View from above; b, from beneath. Both en- 
larged one-third. (Author’s illustration.) 
variety, many of them being striking in shape, coloration, and size, 
one species expanding more than 6 inches. The inability of the 
domestic roaches to withstand unusual cold was illustrated by the 
fact that the severe weather in the winter of 1894 in Florida, which 
was so destructive to the citrus groves, on the authority of Mr. H. G. 
Hubbard destroyed all the roaches, even those in houses, except a 
few unusually well protected. Under suitable conditions in the more 
northern latitudes the domestic species often multiply prodigiously, 
and even in the far north a species occurs in the huts of the Lap- 
landers, and sometimes entirely devours the stores of dried fish put 
away for winter consumption, 
