THE ORTHOPTERA OF MINNESOTA. 35 



wards swept up and destroyed. This remedy will only 

 apply to old houses with large fireplaces, and has no special 

 significance for the modern house. It is presented, however, 

 as a means applicable wherever conditions similar to those 

 described occur. 



Trapping. — Various forms of traps have been very suc- 

 cessfully employed in England and on the continent of 

 Europe as a means of collecting and destroying roaches. 

 These devices are all so constructed that the roaches may 

 easily get into them and can not afterwards escape. The 

 destruction of the roaches is effected either by the liquid into 

 which they fall or b}" dousing them with hot water. A few 

 of the common forms of traps and the methods of using 

 them are here described. 



A French trap consists of a box containing an attrac- 

 tive bait, the cover of which is replaced by four glass plates 

 inclined toward the center. The roaches fall from the cover- 

 ing glasses into the box and are unable to escape. A similar 

 trap used in England is described by Westwood. It consists 

 of a small wooden box in the top of which a. circular hole is 

 cut and fitted with a glass ring, so that it is impossible for 

 the roaches to escape. This trap is baited nightly, and the 

 catch thrown each morning into boiling water. A simpler 

 form of trap, which I am informed by E. C. Pratt is very 

 successfully used in London, England, consists of any deep 

 vessel or jar, against which a number of sticks are placed, 

 and bent over so that they project into the interior of the 

 vessel for a few inches. The vessel is partially filled with 

 stale beer or ale, a liquid for which roaches seem to have a 

 special fondness. In the morning these vessels are found 

 charged with great quantities of dead and dying roaches, 

 which have climbed up the inclined sticks and .slipped off into 

 the vessel. We have had fair success with this last method 

 against the oriental roach in Washington, but against the 

 more wary and active Croton bug it seems less effective. 



Traps of the sort described, placed in pantries or baker- 



