LECTURE IX. 101 



be particular in its description would be unneces- 

 sary. In South America and the West Indies is a 

 species much resembling it, but of a rather larger 

 size, of a longer shape, and of a fine chesnut-co- 

 lour : it is the B. Americana of Linnaeus or Ame- 

 rican Cockroach, and is excellently figured by the 

 celebrated Madam Merian, in her splendid work 

 on the insects of Surinam. But the most remark- 

 able and destructive of all the Cockroaches is the 

 B. gigantea, or Great Cockroach, found in many 

 parts of the West Indies and America. It is 

 often seen of nearly the diameter of an egg, and 

 is of a brown colour. Like the rest of the tribe, 

 it comes out chiefly by night, and devours almost 

 every article of an animal nature, thus committing 

 great devastation in domestic articles. It has also 

 a most troublesome practice of making a kind of 

 drumming noise behind wainscot or paper by 

 night, so that only those who are very good sleep- 

 ers can repose in rooms which are haunted by this 

 insect. It is figured in the elegant work of the 

 }ate Mr. Drury. 



But the ravages committed by the Blattse or 

 Cockroaches are chiefly of a domestic nature, and 

 fall infinitely short of those inflicted on mankind 



