ROACHES AND OTHER ANCIENT INSECTS 



The Croton bug, or German roach (Fig. 49 A), makes a 

 small flat tabloid egg case, which the female usually carries 

 about with her for some time projecting from the end of 

 her body, and sometimes the eggs hatch while she is still 

 carrying the case. The American and Australian roaches 

 (Fig. 49 B, C) make egg cases much resembling miniature 

 pocketbooks or tobacco pouches, about three-eighths or 

 half an inch in length, with a serrated clasp along the upper 

 edge (Fig. 50 A, B). The cases of some of the smaller 

 species of roaches are only one-sixteenth of an inch long 



Fig. 51. Young of the German roach, or Croton bug (fig. 49 A), in various 



stages just before and after hatching 

 A, the young roach in the egg iust before hatching. B, the young roach just 

 after hatching, shedding its embryonic covering membrane. C, young roach 

 after shedding the embryonic covering. D, the same individual half an hour old 



(C), while larger species may make a case three-quarters 

 of an inch in length (E). 



The embryo roaches mature within the eggs, and when 

 they are ready to hatch they emerge inside the egg case. 

 By some means, the roughened edge of the case where it 

 was last closed is opened to allow the imprisoned insects 

 to escape. Small masses of the tiny creatures now bulge 

 out, and finally the whole wriggling contents of the cap- 

 sule is projecting from the slit. First one or two indi- 

 viduals free themselves, then several together fall out, 

 then more of them, until soon the case containing the 

 empty eggshells is deserted. 



[81] 



