OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 289 



winged in July ; eating their way through the valances or curtains of a 

 bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct thei passage. 



They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech : hence beech will 

 not make lasting utensils, or furniture. If their eggs are deposited on 

 the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve wooden furniture. WHITE. 



BLATTA ORIEKTALIS. COCKKOACH. 



A neighbour complained that her house was over-run with a kind of 

 black beetle, or as she expressed herself, with a kind of black-bob, which 

 swarmed in her kitchen when they got up in a morning before 

 day-break. 



Soon after this account, I observed an unusual insect in one of my 

 dark chimney closets, and find since, that in the night they swarm 

 also in my kitchen. On examination I soon ascertained the species to 

 be the blatta orientalis of Linnaeus, and the Uatta molendinaria of 

 Mouffet. The male is winged ; the female is not, but shows somewhat 

 like the rudiments of wings, as if in the pupa state. 



These insects belonged originally to the warmer parts of America, 

 and were conveyed from thence by shipping to the East Indies ; and 

 by means of commerce begin to prevail in the more northern parts of 

 Europe, as Eussia, Sweden, &c. How long they have abounded in 

 England I cannot say ; but have never observed them in my house 

 till lately. 



They love warmth, and haunt chimney closets and the backs of 

 ovens. Poda says that these and house crickets will not associate 

 together ; but he is mistaken in that assertion, as Linnaeus suspected 

 he was. They are altogether night insects, lucifugce, never coming 

 forth till the rooms are dark and still, and escaping away nimbly at the 

 approach of a candle. Their antennae are remarkably long, slender, 

 and flexile. 



October 1790. After the servants are gone to bed, the kitchen 

 hearth swarms with young crickets, and young blattce molendinarice of 

 all sizes, from the most minute growth to their full proportions. They 

 seem to live in a friendly manner together, and not to prey the one on 

 the other. 



August 1792. After the destruction of many thousands of blattce 

 molendinarice, we find that at intervals a fresh detachment of old ones 

 arrives, and particularly during this hot season ; for the windows being 

 left open in the evenings, the males come flying in at the casements 

 from the neighbouring houses, which swarm with them. How the 

 females, that seem to have no perfect wings that they can use, can 

 contrive to get from house to house, does not so readily appear. These, 

 like many insects, when they find their present abodes overstocked, 

 have powers of migrating to fresh quarters. Since the blattce have 

 been so much kept under, the crickets have greatly increased in 

 number. WHITE. 



