MORSE: ORTHOPTERA OF NEW ENGLAND. 305 
Native Species. 
Our native Roaches belong to the genus Parcoblatta, but until 
very recently were called Ischnoptera. There are about a dozen 
species in North America, and at least three in New England. 
The males of this genus have fully developed tegmina and wings, 
much longer than the body; in the females these organs are much 
reduced, in one of our species covering only three-quarters or 
two-thirds of the abdomen. In two others the wings are wanting 
and the tegmina are mere functionless scales covering the base 
of the abdomen. 
This great diversity in the development of these organs, com- 
bined with the lack of specimens in series and especially the lack 
of definite data regarding the relationship of the winged and 
wingless forms, has made these insects for a long time a veritable 
stumbhng-block for the systematist. Hebard, in a recent work 
on the North American Roaches, based on the largest series of 
specimens ever brought together, has brought an approach to 
order out of chaos. While there is still much to be learned, 
many tangled knots of nomenclature and synonymy have been 
unraveled. 
26 27 28 29 
Fig. 26. — American Roach, Periplaneta americana. End of abdomen of male, (.\fter Hebard.) 
Fig. 27. — Australian Roach, Periplaneta australasiae. End of abdomen of male, (.\fter 
Hebard.) 
Fig. 28. — Uhler's Wood-roach, Parcoblatta uhleriana. Dorsal outline of supra-anal plate of 
male. (After Hebard.) 
Fig. 29. — Pennsylvania Wood-roach, Parcoblatta pensyhanica. Dorsal outline of supra-anal 
plate of male. (After Hebard.) 
Active chiefly by night, like other Roaches, the males are 
attracted to lights, and sometimes come to trap-lanterns in num- 
bers; the females, unable to fly, must be sought in their haunts: 
under bark of dead trees and logs, under stones, boards, etc., 
lying on the ground; — or they may be trapped by sinking fruit- 
jars baited with molasses or banana peel into the ground level 
with their tops, when the Roaches, attracted by the odor, fall in 
