480 THE COCKROACH. 



of very rare occurrence, and seldom seen, as it only inhabits the seashore, and never 

 shows itself until dusk. I have a fine specimen that was caught on the sands near 

 Folkestone, in the month of July. 



ORTHOPTERA. 



A LARGE and important order succeeds the Earwigs, containing some of the finest and, 

 at the same time, the most grotesquely formed members of the insect tribe. In this 

 order we include the grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, cockroaches, and stick insects, and 

 its members are known by the thick parchment-like upper wings, with their stout vein- 

 ings and their overlapping tips. As in all the orders, there are exceptional species, 

 wherein one or more of these attributes are wanting. But the characters are in 

 themselves constant, and in most cases the indications of the missing member can be 

 found. For example, many species never obtain wings at all, in many others the 

 males only are furnished with these organs, and in others they are so small as to escape 

 a casual notice. 



THE first family of Orthoptera is the Blattidas, a group of insects familiar under the 

 title of Cockroaches. 



In these insects the body is flattened, the antennae are long and thread-like, and the 

 perfect wings are only to be found in the adult male. The common COCKROACH, so 

 plentiful in our kitchens, and so well known under the erroneous name of black-beetle 

 its color being dirty red, and its rank not that of a beetle is supposed to have been 

 brought originally from India, and to have found itself in such good quarters that it 

 has overspread the land in all directions. 



The Cockroaches are particularly fond of heat, and are found in greatest abundance 

 in kitchens, bakehouses, and other places where the temperature is always high. They 

 are nocturnal in their habits, very seldom making their appearance by daylight, but 

 leaving their hiding places in swarms as soon as darkness brings their day. On board 

 ship they become an almost intolerable nuisance, pouring out of the many hiding 

 places afforded to them by a ship's timbers as soon as the lights are put out, and drive 

 sleep far away by their pestilent odor and their continual crawling over the face and 

 limbs of those who are vainly endeavoring to seek repose. 



Together with the rats and mice, these insects sometimes increase to such an unbear- 

 able extent, that when the vessel comes to a port, the crew are sent on shore, pots of 

 lighted sulphur are placed in the hold, and the hatches battened down for four-and- 

 twenty hours. This severe treatment kills all the rats and mice, and all the existing 

 generation of Cockroaches, and is so far a temporary relief. But the eggs, which are 

 laid in great profusion, retain the elements of life in spite of the sulphurous fumes, 

 and in a few months the ship will be nearly as much overrun as before with these pests. 



There are several means of destroying the Cockroaches in houses, and if they are 

 perseveringly carried out, a dwelling may be kept comparatively free from them. The 

 common red wafers, if scattered over the floor, are rapid and effectual poison to these 

 insects, and meal mixed with plaster of Paris has the same effect. Traps, too, can be 

 readily made by twisting a funnel of paper, putting it into the neck of a jar with a little 

 sugar and water at the bottom, and laying slips of wood or pasteboard as ladders by which 

 the Cockroaches can reach the treacherous banquet. Those that enter will never es- 

 cape with life, and the quickest way of killing them is to pour boiling water into the jar. 



A hedgehog is also a good remedy against Cockroaches, and if allowed the run of 

 the kitchen during the night, will be wonderfully efficacious in keeping down their 

 numbers. 



The eggs of the Cockroach are not laid separately, but enclosed in a hard membranous 

 case, exactly resembling an apple puff, and containing about sixteen eggs. Plenty of 



