The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 05 (of 10)Sedgwick, Adam
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 05 (of 10)
Sedgwick, Adam
Animals
There is very little information extant as to the domestic Blattidae found
in parts of the world outside Europe, but it seems that there are numerous
species that prefer the dwellings of man, even though they only tolerate
the owners. Belt says[159] "the cockroaches that infest the houses of the
tropics are very wary, as they have numerous enemies—birds, rats,
scorpions, and spiders; their long trembling antennae are ever stretched
out, vibrating as if feeling the very texture of the air around them; and
their long legs quickly take them out of danger. Sometimes {232}I tried to
chase one of them up to a corner where on a wall a large cockroach-eating
spider stood motionless looking out for his prey; the cockroach would rush
away from me in the greatest fear, but as soon as it came within a foot of
its mortal foe nothing would force it onwards, but back it would double,
facing all the danger from me rather than advance nearer to its natural
enemy." To this we may add that cockroaches are the natural prey of the
fossorial Hymenoptera of the group Ampulicides, and that these wasps
sometimes enter houses in search of the Insects.
[Illustration: FIG. 127.—_Nocticola simoni_. A, male; A_{1}, tegmen and
rudiment of wing; A_{2}, front of head; B, female. The cerci are broken, in
B the right one is restored in outline. (After Bolivar.)]
We have already noticed the considerable difference that exists in many
cases between the sexes of the same species. This is sometimes carried to
such an extent that nothing but direct observation could make us believe
that the males and females are of one kin. Fig. 118 (p. 220) shows a case
of this kind. Though the young as a rule are excessively similar to the
adults, yet this is by no means invariably the case. In some of the more
amply winged forms, such as _Blabera_, the young is about as different from
the adult as the female of _Heterogamia_ {233}is from its male. In
Blattidae it is always the case—so far as is yet known—that when there is a
difference as regards the alar organs between the two sexes, it is the male
that has these structures most developed, and this even when they can be of
little or no use for purposes of flight.
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