454 OBSERVATIONS ON 



BLATTA ORIENTALIS. COCKROACH. 



A neighbour complained to me that her house was over-run 

 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 day-break. 



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 as- 

 certained the species to be the llatta 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, &c. 

 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 associate together ; but he is mistaken in that assertion, 

 as Linnaeus suspected he was. They are altogether night 

 insects, lucifugce, never coming forth till the rooms are dark 

 and still, and escaping away nimbly at the approach of a 

 candle. Their antennaB are remarkably long, slender, and 

 flexile. 



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

 kitchen hearth swarms with young crickets, and young 

 blatta? molendinaria; of all sizes, from the most minute growth 

 to their full proportions. They seem to live in a friendly 

 manner together, and not to prey the one on the other. 



August 1792. After the destruction of many thousands of 

 Uattce molendinarice, we find that at intervals -a fresh detach- 

 ment of old ones arrives, and particularly during this hot 



