74 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis 
scar, because each time it rolled off, it finally fell and 
bounced to the far side of the cage, whereupon she 
promptly ran down and located it on the floor. She 
cleaned it with her mouth-parts, coated its exposed sides 
and ends with a secretion from her mouth and then 
picked up loose bits of trash, with which she covered it. 
She even went so far as to try to cover it with a piece of 
paper. Girault” also found this habit of covering the 
egg case with mud or bits of wood prevalent for Peri- 
planeta australasiae Fab. 
The mating habits of the roach.—In the proper sea- 
son, a sudden switching on of the light often reveals a 
pair of roaches in copulo; they are motionless, and are 
united with their heads in opposite directions. The 
mated pairs are found on vertical walls, as well as on 
horizontal surfaces, but always in the same position. 
While I have seen many mated pairs, and have seen some 
attempts at mating, it still remains a mystery to me how 
this position is accomplished; it must be through some 
intricate movements. Mating always or nearly always 
occurs in darkness, and it is most difficult to observe the 
manoeuvers of these shy creatures, although by timing 
the experiments and by switching on and off the lights, 
one can get good records of the wooing. The ardor of 
the courting male is not cooled when the lights are turned 
on, but the modest little mate usually walks away and 
breaks up the party. 
In the preliminary movements the male gets directly 
in front of the female, but turns so his head is away from 
her (so that the two are in single file), with the rear tip 
of his body directly in front of her face. He then walks 
backwards, pushing his body underneath hers and at the 
same time lifts his wings and holds them vertically, 
NEnt. News 26:54. 1915. 
