June, '05] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 1 83 



Destructivencss of the Australian Roach Periplancta 



australasiae. 



By Henry Skinner. 



January 14th, last, Mr. David Rust, Secretary of the Penn- 

 sylvania Horticultural Society, sent me some living specimens of 

 this rather handsome roach and said it was eating everything 

 from orchids to overcoats. I wrote to him for further infor- 

 mation and received the following interesting reply. "The 

 roaches came from the estate of Mr. James W. Paul, Jr., at 

 Radnor, Pennsylvania. Joseph Hurley, the superintendent, 

 informs me that the greenhouses, adjoining sheds, offices, etc., 

 are swarming with them at night. They are also in the home 

 of every man employed around the greenhouses. It is Mr. 

 Hurley's opinion that these roaches came there last fall in the 

 buckwheat chaff in which hyacinths, tulips, etc., are packed 

 and in which they arrived from Holland. The roaches do not 

 show any particular preference for any one plant, but their 

 devastation has been general. Orchids, roses, carnations, both 

 plants and flowers have been eaten. The workmen's clothes 

 left hanging in the greenhouse had holes eaten in them. Mr. 

 Hurley's office was invaded and a quantity of postage stamps 

 in his desk were devoured. In this case he used a strong solu- 

 tion of lemon oil which killed every roach that it touched, but 

 this remedy could not be used so strong in the green house. 

 A few nights ago he put part of an apple with ' ' rough on 

 rats" on it on the kitchen floor in his house, and the next 

 morning found seventy-five dead roaches. Pyrethrum powder, 

 Petermen's roach food, Maurer's roach paste, etc. were used." 



Not having heard anything further I suppose the roaches 

 were kept in check or exterminated. 



The species is .so widely spread that it is a question whether 

 they were introduced in the buckwheat chaff from Holland, 

 although there is nothing improbable about it. 



Mr. Wilhelm Junk, of Berlin, Germany, has recently published a 

 directory of the entomologists of the entire world. It contains a full 

 alphabetical index and will doubtless prove very useful for those persons 

 wishing to exchange for exotic material. The price is five marks. 



