38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



cockroach,^ frequently brought to our shores by vessels, is a red- 

 dish brown form about an inch and a quarter long, easily recog- 

 nized by the yellow, irregular, oval markings just behind the head. 

 A slender, light green cockroach^ about an inch long is occasionally 

 introduced with tropical fruits. The smallest and the most pestifer- 

 ous of all is the croton bug,^ a light brown, dark marked cockroach 

 only about ^ of an inch in length. 



Habits. The larger American or European cockroaches are 

 frequently somewhat abundant, but the most numerous is the 

 smaller croton bug. These insects find the dampness of water pipes 

 very congenial, and on account of their abundance in such places, 

 they are widely known as water bugs. Roaches, both large and 



Fig. 20 Oriental cockroach: a and c, female from above and the side; b, male; 

 d, a half grown individual; all natural size. (After Marlatt, U. S. Dep't Agric. 

 Div. Ent. Bui. 4. n. s. 1896) 



small, feed upon a variety of vegetable and animal matter. The re- 

 fuse scraps of the sink, the food on the pantry shelves, woolens, 

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

 bound books and similar materials are all liable to be gnawed by 

 these almost omnivorous pests. Aside from the actual amount of 

 injury inflicted, the fetid, roachy odor is imparted to infested food 

 stuffs. It is only fair to state that these disgusting pests are known 

 to feed upon that horror of the housewife, the bedbug. There is 

 small choice between the two evils. 



^Periplaneta australasiae Linn. 

 ^Panchlora hyalina Stahl. 

 'Ectobia germanica Linn. 



