54 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



The fourth species, the Australian, resembles very closely the American cockroach, 

 but may readily be distinguished from it by the bright yellow band surrounding the pro- 

 thoiax and the yellow dash from the shoulder on the sides of the upper wings. It is 

 very abundant in Florida and some of the southern states, but is not likely to become 

 acclimatized in Canada. A specimen was sent to me last summer by a lady in Toronto 

 who h=id found it among some bananas. It is the only living specimen that I have 

 seen in this country, and evidently came with the fruit from the tropics. 



The structure and life history of the domestic cockroaches are thus described by 

 Mr. Marlatt : " They are uniformly dark brown or dark coloured, a coloration which 

 corresponds with their habit of concealment during daylight. They are smooth and 

 slippery insects, and in shope broad and flattened. The head is indexed under the body, 

 so that the mouth parts are directed backwards and the eyes directed downward, conform- 

 ing with their grovelling habits. The antennae are very long and slender, often having 

 upwards of 100 joints. The males usually have two pairs of wings, the outer some- 

 what coriaceous and the inner ones more membraneous, and once folded longitudinally. 

 In some species the females are nearly wingless. The legs are long and powerful, and 

 armed with numerous small bristles or spines, The mouth parts are well developed, and 

 with strong biting jaws, enabling them to eat all sorts of substances. 



" The cockroach in its different stages from egg to adult shows comparatively little 

 variation in appearance or habits. The young are very much like the adult, except in 

 point of size and in lacking wings. In their mode of oviposition they present a very 

 anomalous and peculiar habit. The eggs, instead of being deposited separately as with 

 most other insects, are brought together within the abdomen of the mother into a hard, 

 horny pod or cap-ule which often nearly fills the body of the parent. This capsule con- 

 tains a considerable number of eggs, the number varying in the different species, arranged 

 in two rows. When fully formed and charged with eggs the capsule is often partly ex- 

 truded from the female abdomen and retained in this position sometimes for weeks or 

 until the young larvae are ready to emerge. The capsule is oval, elongate, or somewhat 

 bean shaped, and one of its edges is usually serrate. The young are in some instances 

 assisted to escape by the parent, who with her feet aids in splitting the capsule on the 

 serrate side to facilitate their exit. On hatching, it is said, the young are often kept to 

 gether by the parent and brooded over and cared for, and at least a colony of young will 

 usually be found associated with one or two other individuals. 



"They pass through a variable number of moults, sometimes as many as seven, the 

 skin splitting along the back and the insects coming out white, soft, but rapidly harden- 

 ing hnd assuming the normal colour. Their development is slow, and probab'y under the 

 most favourable conditions rarely is more than one generation per year produced. The 

 rate of growth depends largely upon food and temperature, and under unfavorable con- 

 ditions the time requind for development may undoubtedly be vastly lengthened. The 

 abundance of cockroaches is, therefore, apparently not accounted for so much by their 

 rapidity of multiplication as by their unusual ability to preserve themselves from ordinary 

 means of destruction and by the scarcity of natural enemies." 



They will eat almost anything, animal or vegetable, and especially the food materials 

 found in storerooms and kitchens. They will also gnaw boots and shoes, the cloth and 

 leather binding of books, whi^h they sometimes damage very seriously, the paste or sizing 

 used being apparently the chief attraction. In a house that I occupied a few years ago 

 they were very numerous in the kitchen and scullery, and often made their way up to 

 my study on the floor above. One night when I was writing, a specimen climbed up 

 on my inkstand and btgan to drink the ink. After watching it for some time I killed 

 it, and found the bcdy was completely filled with ink ! Evidently nothing comes amiss 

 to them in the way of food. 



But besides the loss they occasion by their consumption of sn| plies, they are almost 

 a greater nuisance from the disgusting odour they leave on everything that they touch, 

 and which cannot be got rid of without vigorous washing with soap and hot water. 



