70 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



liar liking for physic, and the motto seemed to be 

 " every cockroach his own doctor." On one oc- 

 casion he had made up a quantity of blue pills, 

 and having left them for a little while, on returning 

 he found they had been attacked by cockroaches, 

 and each one was running off with a pill He 

 politely informed them that one pill was too large 

 a dose for an adult cockroach, but they seemed to 

 think they knew best, and did not heed what he 

 said. The next morning, however, he found his 

 cabin floor strewn with dead and dying cock- 

 roaches. Another naval officer used to have his 

 cocoa made and hung up until he wanted it for 

 breakfast. The first morning he found that he 

 could not see the cocoa for two or three layers of 

 cockroaches which covered it, so he took the whole 

 and threw them — cocoa as well — overboard. The 

 next morning he found it was the same, so he threw 

 the cockroaches overboard only, and drank the 

 cocoa, after which lie learnt to skim the cock- 

 roaches on one side until he drank, philosophically 

 thinking that those on the bottom layer had drunk 

 their fill, and if left alone would prevent anymore 

 from getting to the cocoa. 



I was speaking with a gentleman one day about 

 the internal anatomy of the cockroach, when he 

 remarked that he was not aware that they had any 

 internal anatomy, he always thought " They were 

 all skin and squash." People think cockroaches 

 are all alike, but there are several distinct forms. 

 Insects do not grow ; they do all their growing 

 before they are insects — in what is called the larva 

 state. The first form of insect-life is an egg, 

 which changes into a larva ; the larva becomes a 

 pupa, and finally the pupa becomes an insect, 

 the pupae or chrysalides of Butterflies or Moths 

 are generally brown shining things, without any 

 external limbs, and consequently unable to move 

 about ; but the pupa of the cockroach has external 

 limbs, and can, therefore, move about like the 

 adult. First, then, there is the adult male, which 

 differs from the adult female in having a pair of 

 wing cases, and holding its head more erect when 

 walking. If you examine the wing cases of the 

 male cockroach with a magnifying glass, you will 

 see that they are beautifully marked. Underneath 

 the wing-cases are the wings, which are folded up 

 length-wise. Now we come to the female ; with 

 her you don't see any head at all, it being bent 

 under the thorax or chest. The wing-cases are 

 very short, and she consequently cannot fly. The 



male makes use of his wings in flying, but whet 

 he is flying over a sixty feet house or a seven i 

 wall he only rises just high enough to clear 

 top. It was a puzzle to me for some time b 

 the females got into houses at a distance f. 

 towns, seeing that they could not fly, but t 

 may get there in many wayi — in the laun 

 basket for instance. Some time ago I went i 

 a new house, and my people would have 

 i laundry basket emptied outside, for fear that 

 I cockroaches should come in it, and they foi 

 some there ; but they did get in, for the oili 

 brought them in the firewood. The cockrcl 

 j lays its eggs within horny purses, eacr 

 j which contains sixteen eggs. When the yc 

 | are hatched they pour from their mouths a lie 

 j which is the cause of their smelling, and w 

 j causes the purse to open. The female cooler! 

 carries this purse about with her for some 

 before she makes up her mind where to depos 

 which she often does behind the kitchen boilt 

 [ any out of the way place. I have found the 

 my garden and in my drawing-room, 

 cockroach is very voracious, but if you look 

 in the face you will see that his mouth i'M 

 adapted for very hard work. He has, how*- 

 an internal structure which makes up for M 

 the mouth leads through the gullet into the I 

 and I have never dissected a cockroach in 1 

 the crop was not quite full. From the crc 

 food passes to the gizzard, where it is mastic 

 The gizzard is composed of six lobes, eac) 

 being composed of four plates, and each 

 being provided with 200 teeth. You can a 

 for yourselves the total number of teeth in a 

 roach's gizzard, and I think you will see t 

 has some internal structure which will enah 

 to do all he wants to do. From the gizza 

 food passes through twelve fine tubes in 

 stomach, where it is digested. The coc 

 has a liver also, which is composed of fine tl 

 These insects are nocturnal in their habi 

 therefore are not much seen, but if you \ 

 see them properly, you will have to tame 

 We have heard of tame fleas, and Sir John Li 

 used to have a tame wasp he carried aboi 

 him in a bottle"; and I have kept tame cock: 

 under a glass shade until they learned to 

 as well in the daylight as they did befon 

 dark. Then the question comes, of what 

 the cockroach ? Well, everything has its v 



