3M 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



Primus imdus, the bird-cherry, is a northern 



■ tree, native to Arctic Europe and Siberia, abound- 

 ing in the north of our island, but not found wild 

 in the south. Its graceful long racemes of flowers 

 come with the new leaves, and the blooming of 

 this bird-cherry, like that of the wild cherry, is 



■ one of the events of our northern spring. 



The north temperate zone appears to be the 

 home of the genus Primus, which consists there 

 of some seventy-five species. There are some few 

 others in the tropics, but not more, I think, than 

 half a dozen. 



Amhlcside, Fehruary 1902. 



OUR COCKROACHES. 



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



(Continued frotn page 297.) 



OUR next division contains those insects that 

 are truly indigenous to our islands. Omitting 

 Phyllodromia germanwa Stephens (-') had seven 

 si^ecies — viz., Blatta pallens, B. perspicillaris, B. 

 ^anzeri, B. nigripes, B. livida, B. 2Mllida, and B. 

 lapponum ; but later authorities have considerably 

 curtailed this list, so that to-day we regard three 

 only as undoubtedly native to Great Britain. They 

 are all small and comparatively insignificant, and 

 are included in the single genus EctoMa. 



Although Ectobta lapponnm Linn. (fig. 5) often 

 entei-s houses in many parts of Europe it is not 

 recorded as having done so in England. It is 

 known from the following two by having the head 

 and antennae black and the disc of the pronotum 

 always dark ; it may also be " readily distinguished 

 from panzeri by its larger size " (Burr), from livida 

 by its darker colour. The elytra, which are testa- 

 ceous with darker markings and spots, are fully 

 developed in the male, but in the female do not 

 reach to the middle of the abdomen. Its size, 

 according to the compiler of the " Natural History 

 of Insects," published at Perth in 1792, is "not 

 much larger than a fly," but as flies differ some- 

 what in this respect it might be as well to add 

 that the usual dimensions vary from about three- 

 eighths to seven-sixteenths of an inch (9-11 mm.) 

 in length in the male, the female being somewhat 

 smaller. Unlike the majority of the family this 

 insect can stand severe cold, and although nearly 

 all our records are from the South of England 

 there seems no reason, considering its far range 

 in Scandinavia, why it should not ultimately be 

 discovered further north. This is the species 

 of which Linnaeus wrote that it occasionally 

 attacked the Laplanders' stocks of dried fish. Mr. 

 Burr states the insects are found during summer 

 amongst dried leaves and nettles, under moss, and 

 in similar situations. I believe the species also 

 occurred at " sugar " to Mr. Milton at Brockenhurst 

 during 1899. My .specimens are from Bootle, in 

 Lancashire, where it would probably have been 

 imported amongst timber, the bulk of the foreign 

 timber trade of the port of Liverpool being con- 



(27) "lUus. of Brit. Eiitoni." ; Kirby anil Spenoe, " Intro, to 

 Brit. Entom." 



fined to the North Docks, which extend into the 

 former township. 



E. 2Mnzeri Steph. (fig. 9), the smallest of our 

 British Blattidae, is of a lighter or darker testaceous 

 hire, the male measuring but five-sixteenths of an 

 inch (7-8 mm.) in length, and the female rather 

 less. Apart from its average smaller size, it can 

 usually be easily separated from the preceding 

 cockroach by the paler disc of the shield and' by 

 having the vertex of the head light. The dotted 

 wing-cases of the male are lanceolate in form and 

 longer than the body, those of the female abruptly 

 squared behind, as in the last species, but rather 

 shorter. Pronotum with brown markings ; legs 

 dark brown or testaceous ; cerci dark. 



E. panzeri is usually met with in sandy situa- 

 tions, often frequenting the neighbourhood of the 

 Aeolian dunes that form so characteristic a feature 

 of much of our coast-line. It does not, apparently, 

 occur much north of the Thames Valley, most of 

 our records being from the southern counties of 

 England. Mr. Burr (2**) mentions it as common in 

 Belgium, Holland, and France, and of occasional 

 occurrence in Germany, Dalmatia, Ferrol, etc. My 

 own specimens come from the coast near Col- 

 chester and from Branksome Park, Bournemouth, 

 from which latter locality my friend Mr. Brockton 

 Tomlin has also sent me the larvae. These are 

 very distinct little creatures, having the pi-o- and 

 meso-notum effectively decorated with a dark 

 triangular figure. A variety of this insect, EctoMa 

 panzeri var. nigripes, occasionally occurs. It is 

 considerably darker than the type and has black 

 legs. Mr. Burr records it from the New Forest, 

 Devonshire, and Bournemouth, from which last- 

 named locality my own specimens also come. 



Our remaining indigenous cockroach, Ectoh'tM 

 livida'¥ah\\ (fig. 10), barely exceeds five-sixteenths 

 of an inch (8 mm.) in length. Its general hue is 

 lighter than that of the two preceding species, and 

 it still further differs from them in having the 

 legs and cerci pale, the wings and elytra fully 

 developed in both sexes and reaching beyond the 

 end of the body. When there is any difference in 

 ■ the alar organs of the cockroaches it is always the 

 (2S) " Entomologist's Eecord," vol. xii. No. 8 (1900). 



