80 BLATTID^E — COCKROACHES. 



posed to have been derived from familiarity with the legend 

 and attributes of the Saint Roelie, — the esteemed saint of 

 nil alUieted with the plague, a disease of common occurrence 

 in England when the streets were narrow, and without 

 sewers, houses without boarded floors, and our ancestors 

 without linen. They believed that the miraculous St. 

 Roche could make them as "sound" as himself.^ 



A quite common superstitious practice, in order to rid a 

 house of Cockroaches, is in vogue in our country at the 

 present time. It is no other than to address these pests a 

 written letter containing the following words, or to this 

 eifect : "0, Roaches, you have troubled me long enough, 

 go now and trouble my neighbors." This letter must be 

 put where they most swarm, after sealing and going through 

 with the other customary forms of letter writing. It is 

 well, too, to write legibly and punctuate according to rule. 



Another receipt for driving away Cockroaches is as fol- 

 lows : Close in an envelope several of these insects, and 

 drop it in the street unseen, and the remaining Roaches will 

 all go to the finder of the parcel. 



It is also said that if a looking-glass be held before 

 Roaches, they will be so frightened as to leave the prem- 

 ises. . 



A firm, which has been established in London for seven 

 years, and which manufactures exclusively poison known 

 to the trade as the " Phosphor Paste for the Destruction of 

 Black-beetles, Cockroaches, rats, mice," etc., has given to 

 Mr. May hew the following information : 



"We have now sold this vermin poison for seven years, 

 but we have never had an application for our composition 

 from any street-seller. We have seen, a year or two since, 

 a man about London who used to sell beetle-wafers ; but 

 as we knew that kind of article to be entirely useless, we 

 were not surprised to find that he did not succeed in making 

 a living. We have not heard of him for some time, and 

 have no doubt he is dead, or has taken up some other line 

 of employment. 



" It is a strange fact, perhaps ; but we do not know any- 

 thing, or scarcely anything, as to the kind of people and 

 tradesmen who purchase our poison — to speak the truth, we 

 do not like to make too many inquiries of our customers. 



1 Hone's Every Day Book, i. 1121. 



