To the genus _Blatta_ belong a number of small European species, which mostly lurk in woods and thickets. Some of these are found in the south of England. _B. lapponica_ is one of the commonest and most widely distributed. It is smaller than the common Cockroach, and both sexes have long wings and wing-cases. The males are black and the females yellow. It is found on the mountains of Norway and Switzerland as high as shrubs extend, and when sheltered by human dwellings, can endure the extreme cold of the most northern parts of Europe. This is the insect of which Linnæus tells, that in company with _Silpha lapponica_ it has been known to devour in one day the whole stock of dried but unsalted fish of a Lapland village. _B. germanica_ also has the wings and wing-cases well developed in both sexes. Two longitudinal stripes on the pronotum, or first dorsal plate of the thorax, are the readiest mark of this species, which is smaller and lighter in colour than the common Cockroach. It is plentiful in most German towns, and has been introduced from Germany into many other countries;[20] but it appears to be native, not to Germany alone, but to Asia and all parts of central and southern Europe. Where and how it first became domesticated we do not know. [20] For example, the Russians often call it _Proussaki_, the Prussian Cockroach, and believe that their troops brought it home with them after the Seven Years’ War. The native Russian name is _Tarakan_. In Finland and Sweden the same species is called _Torraka_, which appears to be a corruption of the Russian word, and confirms the account of Linnæus quoted above. _B. germanica_ is found in the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is generally known as the Croton Bug, because in New York it is often met with about the water pipes, which are supplied from the Croton River (Dr. Scudder). The other species of Cockroaches which have been met with in Europe are _Panchlora maderæ_, said by Stephens to be occasionally seen in London, and _Blabera gigantea_ the Drummer of the West Indies, which has often been found alive in ships in the London Docks. _Blatta germanica_, _Periplaneta orientalis_, and _P. americana_, are so similar in habits and mode of life as to be interchangeable, and each is known to maintain itself in particular houses or towns within the territory of another species, though usually without spreading.