80 GRASSHOPPERS AND OTHER INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1911 AND 1912. 



from personal experience : Saturate cotton wads with oil of penny- 

 royal and place in various places about the matress. 



This suggests the possibility of protecting one's self when 

 obliged to sleep in a bed suspected of being "buggy," modyifying the 

 method by putting a little oil of pennyroyal on one's body. The 

 writer has secured immunity from fleas during the night by anoint- 

 ing his body with spirits of camphor. This might be effective with 

 bedbugs also. 



COCKROACHES OR "CROTON BUGS." 



Ectobia (Phylloderma) germanica. 



This pest is distributed practically over the entire globe. While 

 it is not as obnoxious as the previous two insects in that it does not, 

 like those, attack man personally, yet its presence in or about food is 

 sufficient to elicit expressions of disgust from any but the most 

 callous. The species under discussion is only one of several but it 

 is the only one to be considered here in that it is the species which 

 is most annoying to housekeepers of this section. 



It is brownish in color, with two darker stripes on thorax, the 

 adults furnished with thin wing covers under which are a pair of 

 true wings. In the younger stages it is wingless. The adults are 

 rapid runners, and both old and young are lovers of darkness, and 

 quickly hide in cracks and crevices at the approach of light. The 

 opening of a drawer or a cupboard in the daytime often send them 

 scurrying away to more secure retreats. The female, which like the 

 adult male, is a little over half an inch long, may frequently be seen 

 dragging about behind her the oblong egg case, quite as long as 

 she is. This case is packed full of eggs, and in a short time the eggs 

 hatch, each egg case or capsule giving rise to a large number of 

 young roaches. 



It is claimed that this particular cockroach requires from four 

 and a half to six months to reach maturity. It feeds upon all kinds 

 of starchy food, is frequently a great pest in bakeries, and at times 

 startles the patron of some restaurant by scuttling across the table 

 under his very eyes. It is, therefore, one of the most obnoxious and 

 disgusting of pests, even though it does man no direct harm. 



Remedies and Methods of Prevention. The cockroach has evi- 

 dently, like the bedbug, learned discretion in its attitude toward 

 man, and is extremely wary and on its guard against all poison 

 baits. Once thoroughly established in a dwelling it is extremely dif- 



