HOUSEHOLD AND CAMP INSECTS 6l 



Three species are common in America. The American cock- 

 roach^^ is a large, dark-brown insect nearly an inch and a half long 

 and has well-developed wings. The oriental cockroach or black 

 beetle'^ is nearly wingless, dark brown or black, and about an inch 

 long. The smallest and frequently the most abundant is the Croton 

 bug,'^- a light-brown, dark-marked insect only about three-fourths 

 of an inch long. In addition, the Australian cockroach, ^^ frequently 

 brought to America in vessels, is a reddish brown insect about 

 i^ inches long and easily recognized by the yellow irregular, oval 

 markings just behind the head. 



The larger American or European cockroaches are frequently 

 abundant, though the Croton bug is usually more numerous. These 

 insects find the dampness of water pipes very congenial, and on 

 account of their favoring such places they are widely known as 

 water bugs. These pests, both large and small, feed upon a great 

 variety of vegetable and animal substances. The refuse scraps of 

 the sink, the food on pantry shelves, prepared cereals, woolens, 

 the leather of shoes, furniture or books, the sizing of paste, of 

 cloth-bound books and similar materials are all liable to more or 

 less injury by gnawing. Aside from the actual damage inflicted, the 

 fetid roachy odor is imparted to infested food stuffs, rendering 

 them unpalatable and unwholesome. The American cockroach has 

 been fed upon cultures of cholera and the disease germs recovered 

 from the insect's feces, in one instance 79 hours after feeding. 

 Cockroaches have been observed to disgorge portions of their meals 

 at various intervals after feeding, and in one case as long as an 

 hour afterward cholera vibrios were found in the ejected mate- 

 rials.'^* There would seem to be equal probability of these pests 

 conveying other diseases in the same manner. The development 

 of cockroaches, despite their numbers, appears to be relatively 

 slow, since the oriental cockroach requires from 3 to 5 months to 

 attain maturity, while the American cockroach may not become 

 fully grown in less than 12 months. The persistence of these 

 insects in a building is explained in part by the fact that the oriental 

 cockroach has been known to live "]^ days without food, and can 

 survive submersion in water for 20 minutes.'''^ 



■^operiplaneta americana Linn. 

 ■^iPeriplaneta orien talis Fabr, 

 ''^Ectobia germanica Linn. 

 ^sPeriplaneta australasiae Linn. 



74 Barber. Phil. Jour. Sci., Feb. i, 1914. 



75 Holt. Lancet, 4840, p. 1136-37. 



