COCKROACHES 17 



One huge winged cockroach baffled me in my 

 attempts to get rid of him for a long time. I could 

 not discover his retreat. At night he came out 

 and rested on my book-shelf at the foot of my bed, 

 swaying his antennae to and fro, and watching 

 me closely. If I reached out my hand from bed 

 to get a stick, or raised my book to throw it at him, 

 he dropped at once on the deck, and was forthwith 

 out of harm's way. He bothered me much, because, 

 when my light was out, he had a familiar habit 

 of coming to sip the moisture from my face and 

 lips, which was decidedly unpleasant, and awoke 

 me often from a doze. I believe it was with this 

 object that he watched me before I went to sleep 

 I often had a shot at him with a book or other missile 

 as he sat on the book- shelf, but he always dodged 

 and escaped. His quickness and agility astonished 

 me. At last I triumphed by adopting the advice 

 of Captain Maclear and shooting him with a pellet 

 of paper from my air-gun, a mode of attack for 

 which he was evidently unprepared. 



It is on record that cargoes of cheeses 

 have been destroyed by cockroaches on ships. 

 Not only did they devour great quantities 

 of each cheese, but they defiled every one of 

 them with their very tenacious fluid which 

 has, as we have noted above, a most disgusting 

 smell. This the cockroaches poured out from 

 their stink-glands, making the cheeses of no 

 commercial value. 



When a cockroach casts its skin a median 

 longitudinal slit appears on the back of the 



