IX PECULIAR COCKROACHES 235 



One of them, Gromphadorhina portentosa, found in Madagascar 



(Fig. 130), is a very robust 



Insect, and attains a length 



of 78 millim,^ somewhat 



more than 3 inches. This 



Insect has projections on the 



thorax that remind us of the 



horns that exist in some of ^^o- ^^^Grmnphadorhina portmtosa, ^l. 



Tribe Perispnaerndes. (After Bruuuer.) 



the Lamelhcorn beetles. 



Little has been yet written as to the resemblances of Blattidae 

 to other species of their own family, or to other creatures, but it 

 is probable that such similarities will be found to prevail to a 

 considerable extent. W. A. Forbes has called attention ^ to the 

 larva of a Blattid from Brazil as being remarkable for its super- 

 ficial resemblance to an Isopod crustacean. Some of the wingless 

 forms have a great resemblance to the small roUing-up Myriapods 

 of the group Glomerides ; Pseudoglomeris 

 fornicata, of which we figure the female 

 (Fig. 131), has received its name from 

 this resemblance. The females of the S. 



Fig. 131. Pseudoglomeris for- . . ^ . 



nicata, $. Burma. Tribe African gcnus Verocalymma possess this 

 Perisphaeriides. (After Glomerid appearance, and have a peculiar 

 structure of the prothorax, admitting of a 

 more complete protection of the head. Brunner states that the 

 wingless kinds of Berocalymma roll themselves up like Wood-lice. 

 In many of the forms of this tribe Perisphaeriides the males 

 are winged, though the females are so like Myriapods. Accord- 

 ing to de Saussure ^ the gigantic Megalohlatta rufipes bears an 

 extreme resemblance in appearance to the large cockroaches of 

 the genus Bldbera. 



Some of the species of Holocompsa remind us strongly of 

 Hemiptera of the family Capsidae ; they have an arrangement 

 of colours similar to what prevails in that group, and their 

 tegmina and wings which, as being those of Blattids may be 

 said to be abnormally formed, resemble in texture and the 

 distribution of the venation those of the Hemiptera. These Insects 

 are closely allied to Diajohana, of which genus we have figured 

 a species (Fig. 122). 



1 P. ent. Soc. London, 1881, p. 1. 

 2 ^IqI Centr. Amer. Orthopt. 1893, p. 57. 



