THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE COCKROACH. _SPECIAL REFERENCES._ HUMMEL. Essais Entomologiques, No. 1 (1821). CORNELIUS. Beiträge zur nähern Kenntniss von Periplaneta orientalis (1853.) GIRARD. La domestication des Blattes. Bull. Soc. d’Acclimatisation, 3^e Sér., Tom. IV., p. 296 (1877). _Range._ The common Cockroach is native to tropical Asia,[14] and long ago made its way by the old trade-routes to the Mediterranean countries. At the end of the sixteenth century it appears to have got access to England and Holland, and has gradually spread thence to every part of the world. [14] Linnæus was certainly mistaken in his remark (Syst. Nat., 12th ed.) that this species is native to America, and introduced to the East--“Habitat in America: hospitatur in Oriente.” He adds, “Hodie in Russiæ adjacentibus regionibus frequens; incepit nuperis temporibus Holmiæ, 1739, uti dudum in Finlandia.” Perhaps the first mention of this insect in zoological literature occurs in Moufet’s Insectorum Theatrum (1634), where he speaks of the Blattæ as occurring in wine cellars, flour mills, &c., in England. It is hard to determine in all cases of what insects he is speaking, since one of his rude woodcuts of a “Blatta” is plainly _Blaps mortisaga_; another is, however, recognisable as the female of _P. orientalis_; a third, more doubtfully, as the male of the same species. He tells how Sir Francis Drake took the ship “Philip,”[15] laden with spices, and found a great multitude of winged Blattæ on board, “which were a little larger, softer, and darker than ours.” Perhaps these belonged to the American species, but the description is obscure. Swammerdam also was acquainted with our Cockroach as an inhabitant of Holland early in the seventeenth century. He speaks of it as “insectum illud Indicum, sub nomine Kakkerlak satis notum,” and very properly distinguishes from it “the species of Scarabæus” (_Blaps_), which Moufet had taken for a Blatta.[16] [15] This must have been the “San Felipe,” a Spanish East Indiaman, taken in 1587. See Motley, United Netherlands, Vol. II., p. 283. [16] Biblia Naturæ, Vol. I., p. 216. The American Cockroach is native to tropical America, but has now become widely spread by commerce. An Australian species also (_P. australasiæ_) has begun to extend its native limits, having been observed in Sweden,[17] Belgium, Madeira, the East and West Indies,[18] Florida,[19] &c. In Florida it is said to be the torment of housekeepers. [17] De Borck. Skandinaviens rätvingade Insekters Nat. Hist., I., i., 35. [18] Brunner. N. Syst. d. Blattaires, p. 234. [19] Scudder. Proc. Boston Soc. N.H., Vol. XIX., p. 94.