COCKROACH. 115 



being armed with sharp spines, the pricking ex- 

 cites a sudden horror not easily described. In 

 old houses they swarm by myriads, making every 

 part filthy beyond description wherever they har- 

 bour, which in the day-time is in dark corners, 

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

 in short every place where they can lie concealed. 

 In old timber and deal houses, when the family 

 is retired at night to sleep; this insect, among 

 other disagreeable properties, has the power of 

 making a noise which very much resembles a 

 pretty smart knocking with the knuckle upon the 

 wainscotting. The Blatta gigantea of Linnaeus 

 in the West Indies is therefore frequently known 

 by the name of the Drummer. Three or four of 

 these noisy creatures will sometimes be impelled 

 to answer one another, and cause such a drum- 

 ming noise that none but those who are very good 

 sleepers can rest for them. What is most dis- 

 agreeable, 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." 



This horrible insect seems to be at present 

 unknown in the European world, though other 

 species have been introduced by ships from the 

 warmer regions, and are become nuisances in our 

 habitations and warehouses : yet, from an observa- 

 tion recorded by Mouffet it should seem that a 

 specimen of the Blatta gigantea had by some 



