NO. IO COCKROACHES—ROTH AND WILLIS 47 
et al. (1954) stated, “Both flies and cockroaches are outstanding 
among the omnivorous insects which are of significance in the con- 
tamination of food and water as a result of the intimacy and constancy 
of their association with both the food and the excreta of man and 
animals.” 
Cockroaches are tough, resilient insects with amazing endurance and 
the ability to recover rapidly from almost complete extermination. 
They will probably always be with us, and we can only temporarily 
reduce their numbers. But, as in all battles, recognition of a common 
enemy is essential to successful combat. We hope that this review 
has so strongly identified cockroaches with the dissemination of in- 
fectious agents that these insects will no longer be regarded as only 
minor annoyances. The acceptance of cockroaches as serious vectors 
of disease organisms is at least the first step in any organized cam- 
paign of extermination. 
The specific measures to be taken to control cockroaches are beyond 
the scope of this review. However, the currently recommended 
chemical control measures and sanitary practices may be obtained 
from the following sources: the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
U. S. Public Health Service, various state Agricultural Experiment 
Stations, and similar governmental agencies in other countries. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
We thank the following individuals for their assistance in the 
preparation of this paper: Miss Ruth Ericson, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, and the following members of the Quartermaster Labora- 
tories: Mr. John Buckley, Miss Hilma Laakko, Mr. Helmut Pessen, 
Dr. Barbara Stay, Dr. Jan Vanderbie, and Dr. Martynas YCas, for 
translating articles for which they are credited in the bibliography ; 
Mrs. Maria Torok, Quartermaster Library, for obtaining obscure 
literature; Dr. I. M. Mackerras, The Queensland Institute of Medical 
Research, for supplying a photostat of the report by Pound; Mrs. 
Oleta McShan and Dr. D. W. Micks, University of Texas, and Dr. 
T. A. Olson, University of Minnesota, for permission to quote un- 
published data; Dr. L. A. Hetrick, University of Florida, for obtain- 
ing the print of plate 1; Dr. T. A. Olson for obtaining the print of 
plate 3; Dr. R. B. Eads, Texas State Department of Health, for 
obtaining the prints of plates 4 and 5; Dr. Claude R. Hitchcock, 
Minneapolis General Hospital, for prints of the two figures on 
plate 7; Dr. Leonard Tuthill, University of Hawaii, for specimens 
of Pycnoscelus surinamensis infected with Oxyspirura mansoni; Mr. 
