83 



Genus XXXI. BLATTA. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Antenna setaceous. Palpi unequal, filiform. 

 Head inflated ; hidden under the anterior 

 part of the thorax. Thorax flattish, orbicu- 

 lar, and margined. Elytra and wings ex- 

 tended, smooth, semi-coriaceous. Abdomen 

 terminated, in both sexes, by two moveable 

 appendices, like horns. Feet formed for run- 

 ning. 



General Observations. 



The Blattae are very active insects. They 

 run very fast, and generally use their legs rather 

 than their wings, though some of the species 

 can fly very well. They for the most part avoid 

 the light, and leave their lurking places only in 

 the night, from which circumstance they were 

 named by former Naturalists, lucifuga. That 

 pest of our kitchens and bakehouses, commonly 

 called the black beetle, is a species of this ge- 

 nus, for which we were originally indebted 

 to South America; and which, it seems, was 



