412 OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 



In their holes they turn into their pupae state, and so come 

 forth winged in July ; eating their way through the valances or 

 curtains of a bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct 

 their passage. 



They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech : hence 

 beech will not make lasting utensils, or furniture. If their eggs 

 are deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve 

 wooden furniture. WHITE. 



BLATTA ORIENTALIS. COCKROACH. 



A neighbour complained that her house was overrun with a 

 kind of black beetle, or, as she expressed herself, with a kind of 

 black-bob, which swarmed in her kitchen when they got up in a 

 morning before daybreak. 



Soon after this account, I observed an unusual insect in one of 

 my dark chimney closets, and find since, that in the night, they 

 swarm also in my kitchen. On examination I soon ascertained 

 the species to be the blatta orientalis of Linnaeus, and the blatta 

 molendinaria of Mouffet. The male is winged ; the female is not, 

 but shows somewhat like the rudiments of wings, as if in the 

 pupa state. 



These insects belonged originally to the warmer parts of 

 America, and were conveyed from thence by shipping to the East 

 Indies ; and by means of commerce begin to prevail in the more 

 northern parts of Europe, as Russia, Sweden, etc. How long 

 they have abounded in England I cannot say; but have never 

 observed them in my house till lately. 



They love warmth, and haunt chimney closets and the backs 

 of ovens. Poda says that these and house crickets will not asso- 

 ciate together ; but he is mistaken in that assertion, as Linnaeus 

 suspected he was. They are altogether night insects, luajuga, 

 never coming forth till the rooms are dark and still, and escaping 

 away nimbly at the approach of a candle. Their antennae are 

 remarkably long, slender, and flexile. 



October 1790. After the servants are gone to bed, the kitchen 



