206 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



December, April and October. It is not so much a 

 lover of filthy surroundings as is the Oriental roach, 

 and hence frequents much more often than that species 

 the dwellings of the better class of people. It delights 

 in warm, moist places, and is especially abundant and 

 destructive in buildings which are heated by steam. 

 Where it once obtains a foothold and the surroundings 

 of temperature and food supply are favorable, it is 

 almost impossible to eradicate, as its small, flattened 

 form enables it to hide and breed in cracks and crev- 

 ices, which none of the larger roaches can enter. 



Like many other omnivorous animals, Croton bugs 

 fine] in wheaten flour a food substance which is rich 

 in nutrition and easily digested, and so prefer wheat 

 breads and starchy materials to all other foods. On 

 account of this liking they often do much harm to 

 cloth-bound books by gnawing their covers in search 

 of the paste beneath. They also seem to have a 

 peculiar liking for paints of various kinds, and in the 

 oflice of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey at Wash- 

 ington, have done much damage by eating off the red 

 and blue paints from the drawings of important maps. 

 On one occasion they made a raid on a box of water 

 colors, where they devoured the cakes of paint, ver- 

 milion, cobalt and umber, alike ; and the only vestiges 

 left were the excrements in the form of small pellets 

 of various colors in the bottom of the box. 



In giving a remedy for this and, other species of 

 cockroaches which frequent houses, I can not do bet- 

 ter than quote from Dr. Riley's excellent article in 

 "Insect Life." He says: "Without condemning 

 other useful measures or remedies like borax, I would 



