ENTOMOLOGY 320 



warehouses, especially where flour or grain products are stored. Of 

 these, the least common, as well as the largest, is the American roach, 

 fully two inches in length and with well-developed wings in both 

 sexes. They are light brown in color, the thorax or shield covering 

 the head, with an obscure, yellowish border. It is this native species 

 that seems to be confined to stores, mills and warehouses, and where 

 it occurs neither of the other species are found. 



The most common and most disgusting species is the oriental 

 roach, a clumsy, black species, from an inch to one and a quarter 

 inches in length, the male with wing cases that extend from half 

 to three-fourths of the distance to the end of the abdomen, the fe- 

 male with only rudiments of wings. 



The third and smallest species is the German roach, from one- 

 half to three-quarters of an inch in length, light yellowish brown in 

 color, with wing covers that reach to the end of the body, and with 

 well-developed under wings, which are rarely, if ever, used in actual 

 flight. This is quite generally known as the croton bug, and is 

 perhaps the most common and widespread in cities and large towns. 

 It is more frequently found on the upper floors of buildings than 

 the oriental roach, and is quite usually found with it. Where one 

 species only is found in a house, this small species is tolerably sure 

 to be the one. 



All these kinds resemble each other in general appearance, de- 

 velopments and habits. All of them are omnivorous, feeding upon 

 any soft, moist food remnants, animal or vegetable, and gnawing 

 starchy surfaces, ranging from newly-laundered shirt fronts to glazed 

 paper or book-bindings. They will on occasion eat each other and 

 are said to be fond of bed-bugs ; but the two have been known to co- 

 exist in unpleasant numbers in the same house. In all cases the 

 mouth is bent under so that the jaws work practically between the 

 front legs, and therefore the insects must really straddle their food 

 when eating. All of them are thin and flattened, with long spiny 

 legs that extend well out at the sides, and with very long slender feel- 

 ers. They are, therefore, capable of getting into very narrow open- 

 ings, and live under and behind baseboards, in the cracks of the 

 floors, behind wainscotings, around stoves and in the numerous 

 cracks and crevices generally found in kitchen and pantry fittings 

 and closets. 



They are nocturnal in habit; the oriental roach or black beetle, 

 most completely so, being rarely seen during the day even where it 

 is very plentiful ; the croton bug least so, making its appearance not 

 uncommonly in broad daylight where at all numerous. All of them 

 are nasty to handle, but the black beetles are the most disgusting 

 to the senses of touch and smell. 



There is only one brood during the season, and in cold weather 

 the insects are dormant or at least inactive, except in very warm 

 kitchens or bakeries. In the spring the females begin to develop 

 an ootheca or egg case, which extends from the end of the abdomen 

 in the form of a pod, containing a large number of eggs, placed sido 

 by side, This case is carried about until the eggs are ready to hatch; 



