COCKROACHES OR “CROTON BUGS.” 
Ectobia (Phylloderma) germanica. 
This pest is distributed practically over the entire globe. While it is 
not as obnoxious as the previous two insects in that it does not, like those, 
attack man personally, yet its presence in or about food is sufficient to 
elicit expressions of disgust from any but the most callous. The species 
under discussion is only one of several, but is the only one to be considered 
here in that it is the species which is most annoying to housekeepers of 
this section. 
It is brownish in color, with two darker stripes on thorax, the adults 
furnished with thin wing covers under which are a pair of true wings. In 
the younger stages it is wingless. The adults are rapid runners, and both 
old and young are lovers of darkness, and quickly hide in cracks and 
crevices at the approach of light. The opening of a drawer or a cupboard 
in the daytime will often send them scurrying away to more secure retreats. 
The female, which like the adult male, is a little over half an inch long, may 
frequently be seen dragging about behind her the oblong egg case, quite 
as long as she is. This case is packed full of eggs, and in a short time the 
eggs hatch, each egg case or capsule giving rise to a large number of 
young roaches. 
It is claimed that this particular cockroach requires from four and a 
half to six months to reach maturity. It feeds upon all kinds of starchy 
food, is frequently a great pest in bakeries, and at times startles the patron 
of some restaurant by scuttling across the table under his very eyes. It 
is therefore, one of the most obnoxious and disgusting of pests, even though 
it does man no direct harm. 
Remedies and Methods of Prevention. — The cockroach has evidently, 
like the bedbug, learned discretion in its attitude toward man, and is 
extremely wary and on its guard against all poison baits. Once thoroughly 
established in a dwelling it is extremely difficult to eradicate. Particularly is 
this the case when it has taken possession of a fiat or hotel, where, by 
running along the water pipes, it can avoid danger, traveling from room to 
room or from house to house. 
This Division has tried various traps, and practically all the proprietary 
remedies, besides certain poison baits of our own invention, only to find 
that almost any remedy is useless as soon as this insect realizes, as it 
appears to, that it (the remedy) is aimed toward its extermination. 
Perhaps the most important advice to offer in connection with this 
insect is that the housekeeper should at the very first appearance of the 
pest, begin a war of extermination immediately. Every day of delay means 
a probable increase in the ranks of the enemy, and, as stated above, when 
once well established, it is a Herculean task to eradicate them. A careful 
