SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



257 



OUR COCKROACHES. 



By E. J. Burgess Sopp, F.K.Met.Soc, F.E.S. 



BLATTIDAE. 



AT a coroner's inquest held some months ago in 

 the South of England it transpired that the 

 death of the unfortunate victim had been caused 



is little doubt that our common cockroach is the- 

 unwitting cause of frequent shocks to the fairer 

 sex. Well known although he now is, and faithful 

 to a degree, this familiar household scavenger has 

 never become a favourite. He never figm-es as an 



1. Periplaneta americana Linn. 2. P. australasiae Pabr. 3. Rhypardbia maderae 

 Pabr. 4. Leucophaea surinamensis Linn. 5. Plujllodromia germanica Linn., male. 

 6. P. germanica Linn., female. 7. Ootheca of P. germanica Linn. 8. Eclooia lapponica 

 Linn., male. 9. E.panzeri Steph,, male. 10. E. livida Fabr. (Drawn by E. J. B. Sopp.) 



through a chance encounter with a " blackbeetle " 

 on the stairs, so terrifying her that she slipped and 

 sustained injuries which proved fatal. Although 

 happily rarely resulting in so tragic an end, there 



February 1902.— No. 93, Vol. VIII. 



example like others of his class in the story-books. 

 of our youth, nor has he evoked the rapture of the 

 poets like his more fortunate allies, the grass- 

 hoppers and crickets. Even naturalists have little- 

 Published January 25th, 1902. 



