FAMILY II.— COCKROACHES. 



93 



softens the cement along the suture of the egg-capsule. The 

 young, at first white, are very active, and feed, like their 

 parents, upon any starchy food they can obtain. Flour, 

 bread, meat, cheese, fruit, woolen clothes, even old leather, 

 are not despised. The species is very sh^^, and is never seen 

 during the day. It can become ver^^ destructive in stores 

 and bakeries, where it defiles as much as it devours, and 

 where its fetid odor becomes far from appetizing. 



In Minnesota it is not found in large numbers. It seems 

 as if the cold of our winters, which is sometimes rather severe, 

 killed a large number of them every year, and thus kept it in 

 check. Length, 20 to 23 mm. 



THE AMERICAN COCKROACH. 



{Periplaneta americana Fab.). 



This is a native species, originating in tropical or sub- 

 tropical America. It is illustrated in Fig. 5o. It is reddish- 



Fig. 55. — Periplaneta americana; a, view fro tn above; ^, from beneath; both 

 enlarged one-third. From "Household Insects," published by U. S. Div. of Ento- 

 mology, 



