SB 

 818 

 C578 

 ENT 



D. 51, Revised. 



lited States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 

 L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 



COCKROACHES. 



By C. L. Marl ATT, 

 Entomologist and Assistant Chief of Bureau. 



[Revised reprint from Bulletin No. 4, New Series, Division of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, pp. 84-95.] 



Roaches are amonc^ the commonest and most offensive of the insects 

 which frequent human habitations. They were well known to the 

 ancients, who called them lucifuga, from their habit of always shun- 

 ning the light. The common English name for them, or, more prop- 



ria, i. — The American roach {Pcriplancta americana): a, View from above; &, from beneath. Both 



enlarjjed one-third. (Original.) 



erly, for the common domestic English species, is ''black beetle." In 

 America this name has not been adopted to any extent for this insect, 

 which was early introduced here, and the term "roach," or ''cock- 

 roach," is the common appellation of all the domestic species. The 

 little German roath, however, is very generally known as the "Cro- 

 ton bug," or "water bug," from its early association with the Croton 

 47808°— Cir. 51—10 



