Genus l.-~Blat(a. 
This order of infedts has been fubdivlded into eleven 
different genera ; the firit of thefe is the biatta, or cock- 
roach, which comprehends that well known fpecies of 
animals which frequent kitchens and bakehoufes. Their 
appearance is ugly and deformed ; they feldom, however, 
prefent theml'elves by day; and though in our immediate 
vicinity, and of confiderable fize, they are but rarely feen. 
If furprifed in their haunts while it is light, they fpeedily 
efcape by running ; their wings being unfit for flight, ex- 
cept in the males of fome fpecies who make aukward at- 
tempts at flying. The night is their feafon of aQivity, 
when they iffue from the crevices near the chimney in 
quell of crumbs of bread or dough. 
In this ifland the cockroach is probably always a do- 
meftic animal : In warmer countries, however, there are 
different kinds which haunt the fields in great numbers. 
The hakkerlac of the American illes, that voracious ani- 
mal, which fo greedily devours the provifions of the in- 
habitants, is of this genus. That infeS, like our cock- 
roach, limns the light of day; during which it lies con- 
cealed in fome hole, till darknefs approach, to favour 
thofe depredations for which it has long been fo infamous 
in the New World. 
The larvae of all the different fpecies of biatta; differs 
hut little from the perfedt infedt, excepting in the total 
want of the wings and elytra. In that Hate, meal is its 
common 
