INSECTS AND VERMES. 465 



They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech ; 

 hence beech will not make lasting utensils, or furni- 

 ture. If their eggs are deposited on the surface, frequent 

 rubbings will preserve wooden furniture 5 . 



BLATTA OR1ENTALIS COCKROACH. 



A NEIGHBOUR complained to me that her house was 

 overrun with a kind of black beetle, or, as she expressed 

 herself, with a kind of black bob, which swarmed in her 

 kitchen when they get up in a morning before daybreak. 



Soon after this account, I observed an unusual insect 

 in one of my dark chimney closets, and find since, that 

 in the night they swarm also in my kitchen. On exa- 

 mination, I soon ascertained the species to be the 

 Blatta Orientalis of Linnaeus, and the Blatta molendina- 

 ria of Mouffet. The male is winged ; the female is not, 

 but shows somewhat like the rudiments of wings, as if 

 in the pupa state. 



These insects belonged originally to the warmer parts 

 of America, and were conveyed from thence by ship- 

 ping to the East Indies ; and by means of commerce 

 begin to prevail in the more northern parts of Europe, 

 as Russia, Sweden, &c. How long they have abounded 

 in England I cannot say ; but have never observed them 

 in my house till lately. 



They love warmth, and haunt chimney closets, and 

 the backs of ovens. Poda says that these and house 

 crickets will not associate together ; but he is mistaken 

 in that assertion, as Linnaeus suspected he was. They 

 are altogether night insects (lucifugcej, never coming 

 forth till the rooms are dark and still, and escaping 



5 The Ptilinus pectinicornis, FABR., is by no means the only insect that 

 is destructive to furniture. Various species of Anobium also perforate it 

 in all directions. Linnaeus's chairs were bored through and destroyed 

 by An. pertinax; and the Rev. Mr. Kirby has had his chairs, his picture- 

 frames, and the floor of his chamber eaten in every direction by the An. 

 striatum: the last named beetle attacks any furniture, not even abstain- 

 ing altogether from mahogany. E. T. B. 



II M 



