10 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 658. 
It then seemed to be commonly known as the mill beetle. The 
early Dutch called them Kakerlach, and in the Swede settlements they 
were known as Brodextare (bread eaters). It is now very common in 
houses in the East, but is quite generally distributed, and is the com- 
mon species even so far removed from the Atlantic seaboard as New 
Mexico. The characteristics of this insect are shown in the accom- 
panying illustration (fig. 4). 
The German cockroach ! is particularly abundant in Germany and 
neighboring European countries, but, like most of the other domestic 
species, has become world-wide in distribution. In this country it 
is very often styled the Croton bug, this designation coming from 
the fact, already alluded to, that attention was first permanently 
Fic. 4.—The Oriental roach (Blatta orientalis): a, Female; 6, male; c, side view of female; d, half-grown 
specimen. All natural size. (Author’s illustration.) 
drawn to it at the time of the completion of the Croton system of 
waterworks in New York City. It had probably been introduced 
long previously, but the extension of the waterworks system and of 
piping afforded it means of ingress into residences arid greatly encour- 
aged its spread and facilitated its multiplication. The dampness of 
water pipes is favorable to it, and it may be carried by the pressure 
of the water long distances through the pipes without injury. This 
roach has so multipled in the eastern United States that it has now 
become the commonest and best known of the domestic species, and 
its injuries to food products, books, ete., and the disgusting results of 
its presence in pantries, storehouses, and bakeries give it really a 
greater economic importance than any of the other species. 
1 Blattella germanica L. 
