The cockroach, or _blatta,_ is a most disgusting insect, although perfectly harmless, being utterly devoid of any weapon of warfare. It belongs to the order hemiptera, and is furnished with four plain wings, which, when walking, it conceals beneath its outward covering. The common cockroach is of a bright brown colour, with long antennæ, and wings exceeding the body in length. They are most destructive creatures, preying indiscriminately upon the contents of the larder, the linen-chest, or the book-case, or upon any insect they can overcome by treachery or open combat, or vary their repasts at times with a taste of the little negroes’ fingers, when they go to-bed with such members in a greasy state. Cockroaches cast their skins once or twice in the year; during those periods they present a most revolting appearance, being of a milky white instead of their usual brown hue. In the day, they lurk in holes and corners, but no sooner does night approach, or the clouds threaten rain, than they issue forth by legions, crawl over the floor or furniture, dash in your face, or commence their work of devastation upon your property, leaving their nauseous odours behind them upon whatever they may touch. The _drummer_-cockroach is of a dingy ash colour; it receives its name from the drumming noise it makes by striking, it is said, its horny head against any wooden substance it may come near. It is even more disgusting than the common cockroach, both as regards form and odour; the antennæ and wings are shorter, and the body of greater breadth, and differently marked; the feet are furnished with an adhesive liquid, which stain anything they pass over. The eggs of the cockroach are about one-third the size of their bodies; they are rather flat and long, and are covered with a hard shell of a brown colour. The parent insect attaches them to walls, curtains, the interior of boxes or drawers, or, indeed, any place which they deem convenient for the purpose, by means of a kind of animal gum with which they are provided. The cockroach has many enemies to contend against, among whom the domestic fowl is, perhaps, the most formidable, picking them up, impaling them alive upon their beaks, or swallowing them with a relish which none but a fowl could conceive. The avidity with which fowls seek such food gives rise to the negro proverb, “Dat time cockroach hab dance, he no ax fowl for to come.” They certainly are the pest of the West Indies; nothing escapes their depredations; and as the North American Indians have remarked of the deer, “The more you kill, the more they come.” The redeeming qualities of cockroaches are said to be, that they improve the flavour of wine, and make excellent fish-sauce!