470 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Family BLATTID^. 



Cockroaches. 

 Body usually depressed and oval. Pronotum shield-like. Legs 

 adapted for runuing only. Wing covers usually leathery, opaque, 

 ovcrlappuig (if well developed) when at rest. Head bent down, 

 face sloping backwards. Eyes large ; ocelli rudimentary, usually 

 two. Antennae long and slender. 



Synopsis of the Genera, 

 r Sub-anal styles wanting in the males ; last joint of the 



. J abdomen of the female not divided beneatli . . Blatta. 

 I Sub-anal styles present in the males; last joint of the 

 ^ abdomen of the female divided ...... 2. 



2 f Sui)ra-anal plate fissured ..... Periplaneta. 

 I Supra-anal plate not fissured Platamodes. 



Genus Blatta. Linneus (1758). 

 The insects placed in this genus have a pad (pulvillus) between 

 the claws of the feet ; the seventh sternum of the abdomen entire 

 in both sexes ; and the sub-anal styles rudimentary in the males. 



Blatta geumanica. Fabricius. 



Water Bug. Croton Bug. (Fig. 20.) 



Length, about half an inch. Color, 

 dull yellowish, with a yellowish-brown 

 head and yellowish antennae. Pro- 

 notum with a reddish-brown longi- 

 tudinal band on each side. Wing 

 covers and wings somewhat longer 

 than the abdomen. 



The eggs, thirty-six in number, are 

 laid in two rows in a capsule which 

 Blatta gcrm.ni.;; Male and thc female carrics arouud attached to- 

 ^'-■'"■''<^- the end of her abdomen ; and, when the 



young hatch, she assists them in escaping from the capsule. The 

 young molt or shed their skins six times before they reach 

 maturity, which takes from four to five months. They do not 

 avoid the light as much as the other species af this family, but 

 still are nocturnal to a certain degree. 



This species is common in houses in and about all the large 

 cities in New England, where it is called the " croton bug." It 

 feeds on almost everything, but prefers wheat bread to all other 

 articles of diet. It sometimes injures libraries by gnawing the- 



