62 



THE YOUNG NATUKALIST. 



known about many of them, as their obnoxious habits cause them to be re- 

 garded with antipathy. All the species cast their skins five or six times 

 before they arrive at perfection when the old covering is thus thrown off they 

 are quite white, but soon assume the darker colour. 



Blatta orientalis is the commonest species. The males have short 

 wings and tegmina, not covering more than two-thirds of the abdomen. The 

 females have the tegmina still shorter, and the wings entirely obsolete. 

 These insects are peculiarly interesting from their mode of carrying and de- 

 positing their ova, which is enclosed in a horny capsule or case, divided into 

 two compartments, in each of which is a row of separate spaces, each con- 

 taining an egg. The female may frequently be seen running about with 

 the end of the capsule protruding from the end of the body, and she some- 

 times carries it a week or a fortnight before she finds a suitable place for its 

 deposition. The capsule is about the size of a coffee berry and slightly resem- 

 bles one. A friend of mine found a number of these capsules in the crevices 

 near the kitchen fireplace, and concluded the cockroaches had been appro- 

 priating the coffee beans. This species is not considered an indigenous 

 insect, but is believed to have been imported from the Levant. They are 

 much too common now in our houses, where they live about the kitchen fire- 

 places, in restaurants, bakers' ovens, calender works and other places where 

 they can enjoy warmth. They devour almost everything, bread, flour, meat, 

 cheese, and even the contents of natural history collections ; nothing comes 

 amiss to them. They are nocturnal in their habits, hiding during the day. 



Blatta germanica is also an introduced species. In Manchester where 

 it is found in restaurants it is known as the steam-fly. It is diurnal as well 

 nocturnal, and may be seen running amongst the viands during the day. 

 It abounds too in the Monkey House, at Belle Yue. It also occurs at 

 Preston and in a cotton mill at Oldham. In Liverpool it is abundant, and 

 has been reared from ova by Mr. R. McMillan, who gives a very interesting 

 account of it. It is very much smaller than the preceding species, lighter in 

 colour, and with the wings fully developed in both sexes. The capsule is of 

 an oblong form, rounded at both sides and ends, and with transverse im- 

 pressions. This species also devours bread, meat, cheese, and all kinds of 

 obtainable substances. 



Blatta americana is a large species, which has probably been introduced 

 into this country through our commerce with America, where it is supposed 

 to be indigenous. It is owing to the supply of food they obtain amongst 

 merchandise that they attend the footsteps of commerce all over the world. 

 This abounds in sugar works, india-rubber works, and dye works, in Man- 



