32 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 134 
Blattella germanica and Oxyhaloa buprestoides (=murrayi) are com- 
mon in Southern Rhodesia, Moiser did not specifically implicate these 
species as biting man. Moiser (1947) also reported that although he 
had never seen a cockroach in the act of biting, the African natives 
were well aware that cockroaches bite. Zimmerman (1948) reported 
that cockroaches gnawed on his feet while he slept on a copra schooner 
traveling in Fijian waters. 
Rageau and Cohic (1956) stated that in heavy infestations, Blattella 
and Periplaneta would attack man (particularly nursing infants), 
nibbling the skin, especially at the ears, and gnawing at scabs, thus 
enlarging wounds. They observed exceptional cases of such attacks 
by Periplaneta australasiae and P. americana at Nouméa (New Cale- 
donia) and received information from J. Guiart who reported a simi- 
lar attack by Blattella germanica at Espiritu Santo (New Hebrides). 
Lederer (1952) observed that Periplaneta americana fed readily 
on open wounds of animals in the zoo at Frankfurt am Main, Ger- 
many, but he did not imply that the wounds were cockroach bites. 
According to Pospelow (1904; in Pavlovskii and Shtein, 1931), 
the bite of Blatta orientalis produces characteristic triangular patterns, 
particularly at the neck, chest, elbows, and feet, which are covered 
by dried blood crusts. Pavlovskii and Shtein (1931) experimentally 
determined the effect of the bite of B. orientalis on human skin. 
The insects were induced to bite skin moistened with sugar solution. 
The bite resulted in a slight pain and itching; 24 hours later, the 
bitten areas were covered with scabs. In these spots, the skin was 
destroyed almost to the corium. Damage to the epidermis was attrib- 
uted to mechanical effects of the bite. 
The positive act of cockroaches biting humans has been reported 
at least 18 times ; there are undoubtedly other similar reports that we 
have not seen. Admittedly, many of the accounts lack the authenticity 
of direct personal observation, but even so, this body of evidence can- 
not be ignored. Most of the reports seem to be independent observa- 
tions as there were no attempts to document the statements. Moiser 
(1947) even stated that he had found no references, other than his 
own, to the fact that cockroaches bite man. He also pointed out that 
African natives habitually live, cook, eat, store food, and sleep in 
huts that are heavily infested with cockroaches. We conclude that 
under such primitive, unsanitary living conditions, food-seeking cock- 
roaches may incidentally bite man. (See also Sells, 1837, p. 132.) 
X. ACCIDENTAL INVASION OF MAN 
Kalm (1772), on his travels in North America, was told a first- 
hand account by a man whose ear had been entered by a cockroach 
