COCKROACHES AND THEIR CONTROL 



By E. A. Back, principal entomologist, Division of Insects Affecting Man and 

 Animals, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 



Cockroaches may become troublesome in any establishment. They 

 are notoriously destructive and annoying in the kitchens and pantries 

 of houses, restaurants, and hotels, and in stores, manufacturing plants, 

 libraries, etc. It is not only the food and other possessions, such as 

 bookbindings and fine fabrics, which they eat or disfigure that make 

 them important enemies of man, but the pollution of foods over which 

 they run may place them in the role of disease carriers. Of the large 

 sums spent by owners of apartment houses, hotels, hospitals, and 



Figure 1.— The American cockroach: a, View from above; b, from beneath. Enlarged one-third. 



business establishments for pest-control services, a very large propor- 

 tion is for cockroach suppression; and thousands of dollars are spent 

 annually by the American public to fight roaches in the home. While 

 cockroaches can be controlled without great difficulty by home owners, 

 commercial exterminators are available in most cities for such work. 



Kinds of Cockroaches 



Five kinds of cockroaches are frequently found in American homes. 

 The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana L.) (fig. 1) is the 



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