COCKROACHES 3 



and they have probably come to conclusions 

 about themselves and the sea, comparable to 

 those expressed by Dr. Johnson about man 

 and the ocean : ' To all the inland inhabitants 

 of every region the sea is only known as an 

 immense diffusion of waters, over which men 

 pass from one country to another, and in 

 which life is frequently lost.' 



But one insect at least causes more 

 trouble to sailors than to soldiers — and that 

 is the cockroach. Like the bed-bug, the cock- 

 roach came into England at the end of the 

 sixteenth century, and, like the bed-bug, it 

 came from the East. It seems to have been 

 first introduced into England and Holland 

 in the spacious times of Henry VIII by the 

 cross-sea traffic, and from about the end of 

 the sixteenth century the cockroach began 

 gradually to spread throughout the Western 

 world. Like the rat, the bed-bug, and the 

 domestic fly, it has become thoroughly accli- 

 matised to human habitations, and is indeed 

 an associate of man. It is very rarely found 

 living apart from some form or other of 

 human activity. 



This insect seems to have been first 

 described in England in Moufet's ' Insectorum 

 Theatrum,' 1634, and he speaks of it as living 

 in flour-mills, wine-cellars, &c., in England, 

 and he tells us how Sir Francis Drake took, 



B 2 



