The Biology of the Roach 71 
escaped from a tank in the cellar one night; when they 
were recaptured and dressed the next day, the contents 
of the stomachs revealed an astonishing number of 
roaches in the large nymph stage. In nature the habitats 
of the frogs and roaches are so remote that this relation- 
ship can hardly be expected to exist. Some common gray 
lizards kept in the laboratory also readily accepted the 
roaches as food. ‘A neighbor told me that her chickens 
greedily ate the roaches which she had caught in traps. 
Woods’ says that the cockroach is a favorite food of 
many animals and the hedgehog is so partial to it that 
one of these animals is sometimes kept in the kitchen for 
the express purpose of destroying these pests. A young 
friend who is a nature student informs me that he fed 
roaches of this species to a pet garter snake. 
Roaches seem to require a larger supply of water than 
do most species of insects, and they drink it with an evi- 
dent enjoyment that is pleasant to see. Their food often 
becomes mouldy, and fungus growths of various colors, 
black, yellow, green or gray, cover it, but this seems not 
to affect them in any way, and no increase in the mor- 
tality could be noticed at these times. Very often, too, 
their food, especially the starchy materials, becomes 
covered with myriads of mites, Tyroglyphus lintneri 
Osborn (identified by Mr. H. E. Ewing), but even these 
do not affect the health or the mortality of the roaches in 
the jars. 
Method of concealing the egg cases.—The color of the 
egg case as it leaves the abdomen is almost white. Some- 
times the exposed part of the case becomes dark while 
it is being carried, so a newly deposited case may have 
every shade from white through a reddish pink to a red- 
‘Insects at home, p. 237. 1872. 
