The Structure and Life-history of the Cockroach (Periplaneta orientalis): An Introduction to the Study of Insects — John Shaqi
The Structure and Life-history of the Cockroach (Periplaneta orientalis): An Introduction to the Study of InsectsMiall, L. C. (Louis Compton)
Science
The Structure and Life-history of the Cockroach (Periplaneta orientalis): An Introduction to the Study of Insects
Miall, L. C. (Louis Compton)
Cockroaches
_Orientalis_ is, for example, the common Cockroach of England, but
_germanica_ frequently gets a settlement and remains long in the same
quarters. H. C. R., in Science-Gossip for 1868, p. 15, speaks of it as
swarming in an hotel near Covent Garden, where it can be traced back as
far as 1857. In Leeds, one baker’s shop is infested by this species; it
is believed to have been brought by soldiers to the barracks, after the
Crimean war, and to have been carried to the baker’s in bread-baskets.
We have met with no instance in which it has continued to gain ground
at the expense of _orientalis_. _Americana_ also seems well established
in particular houses or districts in England. H. C. R. (loc. cit.)
mentions warehouses near the Thames, Red Lion and Bloomsbury Squares,
and the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park. It frequents one single
warehouse in Bradford, and is similarly local in other towns with
foreign trade.
Many cases are recorded in which _germanica_ has been replaced by
_orientalis_, as in parts of Russia and Western Germany, but detailed
and authenticated accounts are still desired. On the whole _orientalis_
seems to be dominant over both _germanica_ and _americana_.
The slow spread of the Cockroaches in Europe is noteworthy, not as
exceptional among invading species, but as one more illustration of
the length of time requisite for changes of the equilibrium of nature.
It took two centuries from the first introduction of _orientalis_ into
England for it to spread far from London. Gilbert White, writing, as
it would appear, at some date before 1790, speaks of the appearance of
“an unusual insect,” which proved to be the Cockroach, at Selborne,
and says: “How long they have abounded in England I cannot say; but
have never observed them in my house till lately.”[21] It is probable
that many English villages are still clear of the pest. The House
Cricket, which the Cockroaches seem destined to supplant, still dwells
in our houses, often side by side with its rival, sharing the same
warm crannies, and the same food. The other imported species, though
there is reason to suppose that they cannot permanently withstand
_orientalis_, are by no means beaten out of the field; they retreat
slowly where they retreat at all, and display inferiority chiefly in
this, that in countries where both are found, they do not spread, while
their competitor does. It may yet require some centuries to settle the
petty wars of the Cockroaches.
[21] Bell’s Edition, Vol. I., p. 454.
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