30 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 134 
effect of the insect’s saliva. An emulsion of the salivary glands pro- 
duced the same symptoms as the bite of the cockroach when rubbed 
into skin damaged with a sterile needle. 
A Kenya doctor was asked whether cockroaches bite. His 
reply was “Of course they bite! I can demonstrate half-a- 
dozen bites in my outpatients any morning.” 
Molser (1947). 
IX. COCKROACH BITES 
Whether cockroaches naturally bite man has been the subject of 
some controversy (see Dubois, 1954, and our discussion of leprosy, 
pp. 20-23). In areas where cockroaches are well controlled or where 
cockroach populations are not large, cockroach bites may be rare 
phenomena, In primitive areas that lack adequate insect control, 
and especially in tropical areas that support large cockroach popula- 
tions, particularly in sleeping quarters, biting has been well docu- 
mented. 
Ligon (im Sloane, 1725) and Jeffereys (1760), describing condi- 
tions in the West Indies, stated that cockroaches entered beds and 
bit the sleepers. Catesby (1754) mentioned cockroaches scratching the 
faces of men and biting the greasy fingers of sleeping children. A 
similar occurrence was noted by de Azevedo Marques (1925); he 
also reported that in Brazil cockroaches gnaw on the fine flakes that 
collect on the skin covering the heads of sleeping people, on the sub- 
stance that collects in the corners of the eyes, and on the feet. Drury | 
(1782, 1837) stated that in the West Indies Blaberus discoidalis 
(=giganteus of Drury [Rehn and Hebard, 1927]) attacked people 
who were not sleeping under bed nets, that the sick and dying had 
their extremities attacked, and that the ends of the toes and fingers 
of the dead were frequently stripped of flesh. Hartnack (1939) re- 
ported that persons have been thought to be victims of crimes until 
it was found out, by accident, that skin defects had been caused by 
cockroaches feeding on the corpses. He also stated that the oriental 
cockroach may eat dead rats down to the skeleton. 
Durie (1870) reported an instance of cockroaches nibbling off all 
of a toenail down to the quick. Nicols (1870) mentioned that sailors 
frequently complained of having their toenails and fingernails and 
the hard parts of the soles of their feet and hands nibbled by cock- 
roaches. He also recounted a personal experience: “On returning 
from a shooting excursion in salt swamps in tropical Australia, with 
