8 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



the same time as the middle leg of the other, 

 pulling themselves forward with their front 

 legs and pushing themselves forward with the 

 hindermost. They are thus constantly poised 

 on a tripod. They occasionally, but not very 

 often, use their wings for flight. When they 

 do so, their anterior wings are stretched out 

 at right angles to the body, and take no 

 active share in beating the air. They act 

 in effect as monoplanes. It is the hinder 

 wings which really do the active flying. After 

 a flight, the hinder wings are shut up some- 

 thing in the manner of a fan. 



The flattened coxae, or thighs, of the 

 leg are adapted for shovelling debris back 

 from beneath the body when the insect is 

 enlarging its habitation. When the cockroach 

 gets into a dusty ' milieu ' the dust is im- 

 mediately removed ; the hairs on the legs 

 act as clothes-brushes and brush every part 

 of the body, whilst the antennae, which attract 

 any dust in the neighbourhood, are repeatedly 

 drawn through the closed mandibles and so 

 cleaned. A cockroach is able to walk on 

 smooth surfaces because it possesses between 

 the joints of the tarsus certain soft, white 

 patches, very velvety, and these give the 

 creature a good hold, and prevent slipping 

 even on glass. 



Cockroaches will eat pretty well every- 



