The Biology of the Roach 75 
thereby exposing the dorsal segments of his abdomen. 
Sometimes a feeble attempt is made to flutter these ver- 
tical wings in a way that suggests coquettishness. When 
he has partly inserted his body under her, she slowly 
walks on top of his back, touching or feeling the seg- 
ments of his abdomen with her jaws and palpi. The cerci 
of the male are protruding and his clasping organs ex- 
tended and opening and closing like a pair of tongs, in 
his attempt to grasp or feel segment after segment as 
she crawls forward over him or as he crawls backward 
under her (sometimes it is difficult to say just which is 
really happening). These movements continue, and just 
when one expects a culmination, the female breaks away 
or the male makes a false step and the pair separate. 
There must be some very interesting contortions occur- 
ring before he makes the connections and faces about 
completely from backing under the female to facing in 
the opposite direction, and it is probable that many 
attempts are made before this intricate task is accom- 
plished. I hope some day, with better technique in the 
way of light regulation and mirrors, to be able to get the 
details. 
There is actual courtship on the part of the males, and 
there is actual rivalry between them, as will be seen from 
the following experiment. On June 2, at 11:35 p. m, I 
placed 9 chaste males about two weeks old (since they 
had become adult) with a virgin female. Five minutes 
later, upon switching on the lights, I found the female 
had crouched under a bit of bark, and at the end of ten 
minutes she had already mated with one of the males, 
and several of the others, walking high up in the air 
with legs outstretched like stilts (an extremely unusual 
position which might be a way of trying to attract the 
attention of the female), were pestering the pair. One 
