148 INSECTA. 
Buatta, Lin., 
Where there are five joints to all the tarsi. The wings are only 
plaited longitudinally, the head is concealed under the plate of the 
thorax, and the body oval, orbicular, and flattened. 
Their antenne are setaceous, inserted into an internal emargina- 
tion of the eyes, long, and composed of a great many joints. The 
palpi are long, the thorax has the form of a shield. The elytra are 
usually of the length of the abdomen, coriaceous or semi-membra- 
nous, and slightly cross each other at the suture. The posterior ex- 
tremity of the abdomen presents two conical and articulated appen- 
dages. The tibiw are furnished with small spines. Their crop is 
longitudinal, and their gizzard is provided internally with strong, 
hooked teeth. They have eight or ten ceca round the pylorus. 
The Blattee are very active nocturnal insects, some of which live 
in the interior of our houses, particularly the kitchen, in bake-houses 
and flour-mills; the others inhabit the country. They are extremely 
voracious, and consume all sorts of provisions. The species peculiar 
to the French colonies are termed there /akerlacs or Hakerlaques, 
and are a source of continued irritation to the inhabitants, on account 
of the devastation they occasion. ‘They not only devour our articles 
of food, but attack cloth, linen, silk, and even shoes. They also eat 
Insects. Certain species of Sphewx are constantly at war with them. 
B. orientalis, L.; De Geer, Mem. Insect., IJ, xxv, i, 7. 
Length ten lines; reddish chesnut-brown ; wings of the male 
shorter than the abdomen; those of the female mere rudiments. 
The eggs of the latter are inclosed symmetrically in an oval 
and compressed shell, first white, then brown, and serrated on 
one side. The insect carries it for some time at the anus, and 
then fixes it by means of a gummy matter to various bodies. 
This species is a scourge to the inhabitants of Russia and Fin- 
land. It is said to be originally from Asia, and, according to 
some authors, from South America. 
B. lapponica, L.; De Geer, Ib., 8, 9, 10. Blackish brown; 
margin of the thorax of a light grey; elytra of the same colour. 
It attacks the stock of dried fish, which the Laplanders use in- 
stead of bread. In Europe it inhabits the woods. 
B. americana, De Geer, Ib., xliv, 1, 2,3. Reddish; thorax 
yellowish, with two brown spots and a margin of the same co- 
lour; abdomen reddish; very long antenne.—America. 
gigantea, Fab.; Herbst., Archiv. Insect. XLIX, 1; see Palis. de Beauv., Insect. 
d’Afr. et d’Amer. The two species quoted, and all those which have not more than 
fourteen joints in the antenne, compose my genus FORFICULA proper—Faun. Nat. 
du Régn. Anim. Those which haye more, such as the F. gigantea and others, form 
my genus FORFICESILA. All these Insects are winged. Those which are apterous 
form a third genus, that of CHELIDOURA. Doctor Leach also divides the Dermap- 
tera into three genera; 1. Forficula, with fourteen joints in the antenne ; 2. Labi- 
doura, with thirty; 3. Labia, with twelve. For further details respecting these In- 
sects, as well as for others of the same order, see the Hore Entomologice of M. 
Toussaint Charpentier. 
