510 B L E A B E R R 



which are touched with powder, pomatum, and simi- 

 lar substances ; every thing made of leather, books, 

 paper, and various other articles, which if they do not 

 destroy, at least they soil, as they frequently deposit 

 a drop of their excrement where they settle, and some 

 way or other, by that means, damage what they cannot 

 devour. They fly into the flame of candles, and 

 sometimes into the dishes, are very fond of ink and 

 oil, into which they are apt to fall and perish. In 

 this case they soon turn most offensively putrid, so 

 that a man might as well sit over the cadaverous 

 body of a large animal as write with the ink in which 

 they have died. They often fly into persons' faces 

 and bosoms, and their legs being armed with sharp 

 spines, the pricking excites a sudden horror not easily 

 described. In old houses they swarm by myriads, 

 making every part filthy beyond description wherever 

 they harbour, which in the day-time is in dark corners, 

 behind all sorts of clothes, in trunks, boxes, and, in 

 short, in every place where they can be concealed. 

 In old timber and deal houses, when the family is 

 retired at night to sleep, (his insect, among- other dis- 

 agreeable properties, has the power of making a noise, 

 which very much resembles a pretty smart knocking 

 with the knuckle on the wainscotting. The B. gigantca 

 of Linnaeus in the West Indies is therefore frequently 

 known by the name of the drummer. '1 hree or four 

 of these noisy creatures will sometimes be impelled 

 to answer one another, and cause such a drumming 

 noise that none but 'those who are very good sleepers 

 can rest for them. What is most disagreeable, those 

 who have not gauze curtains are sometimes attacked 

 by them in their sleep ; the sick and dying have their 

 extremities attacked; and the ends of the toes and 

 fingers of the dead are frequently stripped both of 

 the skin and flesh." Drury, Illust. Nat. Hist. vol. Ui. 

 Preface. 



A small species of Blatta, the 11. Lapponlca of Lin- 

 naeus, is stated by that author to swarrn in the huts 

 of the Laplanders, and occasionally to devour, in 

 conjunction with the Silpha Lapponica, the whole sup- 

 ply of dried fish in a single day. The species thus 

 named by English entomologists is found in woods, 

 and, from the difference in its habits, it may reason- 

 ably be supposed to be a different species. 



But the most singular circumstance connected with 

 these insects consists in the manner in which the 

 eggs are deposited. Instead of these being laid 

 singly, as is generally the case amongst insects, nature 

 has given the females a most curious instinct for the 

 preservation ot their, offspring. In fact, the females 

 deposit a large oblong mass, convex at the sides, and 

 flattened at the edges, which serves as a case for an 

 entire family of young blattse. This mass, which is 

 of large size, being nearly half the entire size of the 



abdomen of the female, is borne about by her for a 

 considerable period. At first it is white, but gradu- 

 ally becomes dark brown. Although composed of a 

 single piece, the edge along one side is slit, the mar- 

 gins of each side of the slit being denticulated and 

 fitting into each other, and being cemented together 

 so strongly that the other portions are even less 

 strong than at the union of the sutures. Nature has 

 however provided the enclosed insects with a key to 



Y BLENDE. 



this prison, enabling them to escape at the fitting 

 period ; this consists of a fluid which they emit, and 

 which softens the cement of the denticulated margins, 

 and affording to the young captives the means of 

 escape from a situation in which they had previously 

 attained a sufficiency of strength to enable them to 

 follow their habits. On their quitting the case the 

 cleft shuts again so accurately that jt appears as entire 

 as before. On opening this cocoon, as it may be 

 called, it is found to contain about sixteen eggs of an 

 oblong oval form, arranged in a double series, in 

 which the young are brought to a considerable state 

 of maturity. This singular proceeding occupies the 

 female about a week, and suggests several interesting 

 points of inquiry as to the manner in which the eggs 

 are arranged by the female, the nature of the enve- 

 lope, the cause of its being so long borne about by 

 the parent, &c. It has indeed been said, that so 

 careful is the female of her egg pouch, that she covers 

 it upon quitting it with the materials of the substance 

 upon which she places it, so that neither man nor 

 any prying mouse or other animal can detect it ; but 

 it would seem that this assertion has been made by 

 confounding the blatUe with the tineae, since the 

 former, as we have noticed, simply deposits her case 

 of eggs in some secure situation. The larvae and 

 pupae are equally active with the imago, and not less 

 destructive, differing only in their smaller size and in 

 entirely wanting or having but the rudiments of 

 wings and elytra. 



There are about a dozen indigenous British species 

 of this genus, all of which are rare ; but the number 

 of exotic species is very great, and they are but little 

 known, scarcely any entomologist having paid atten- 

 tion to the group, which notwithstanding contains 

 some very curious forms. Latreille has divided the 

 family into two genera, Blatta and Kakcrlac (the 

 name by which the blattae are distinguished by the 

 American colonists), giving the //. orientates as the 

 type of the latter, which differs from the former in 

 the females being destitute of wings. As, however, 

 the orientates is the type of the Linnaean genus blat.ta, 

 we have distinguished the B. Lapponica, and other 

 British species composing the Latreillan genus blatta, 

 under the name of ectobius, and which have tegmina 

 and wings in both sexes. The other genera are 

 Blaberus, Panest.hia, Pseudcrnop.% Cniydia, Phoraspis, 

 and Pemphera, all recently established by M. Seryille 

 in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, upon various 

 exotic species. 



BLEABERRY is the Vaccmium utiginosum of 

 Linnaeus; a British plant found on wild moorland 

 places. The berries are eatable, but of inferior 

 quality. 



BLECHNUM (Linnaeus). A genus of exotic 

 ferns, consisting of ten species ; divided into two 

 sections, viz. with fronds pinnated, leaves entire ; and 

 fronds pinnate, leaves serrulated or denticulated. 

 They require a hot or irri-en-house. 



BLECHUM (Jussicu). A family of four species, 

 hot-house perennial herbs, introduced from the West 

 Indies. Class and order Didynamia Angiospcrma, 

 and natural order Acanthacccc. Generic character : 

 calyx, five-parted, persisting ; corolla, funnel-shaped, 

 the limb five-cleft ; stamens, two-celled ; style fili- 

 form, stigma cloven ; capsule one-celled, two-valved. 

 The Blechutns rank among ornamental plants ; but 

 not conspicuously beautiful. 



BLENDE. This mineral varies considerably ii> 



