The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-22
HOUSEHOLD PESTS.
Bugs That Make Life "A Torture to
the Housewife.


the Housewife.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Washington.-The department of agri-
culture is getting out book on House
hold Pests" which is designed to instruct
the people of this country about ways
for getting rid of the insects that most af-
fiict the everyday citizen and particu-
larly the housewife. 1t starts in with
cockroaches, because those creatures are
the commonest and most offensive of all
that frequent human habitations. They
were well known, it seems, to the an
clients, attacking the provender in the
larder of the Romans, Greeks and Egyp-
tians of old, and exciting the disgust of
housekeepers who tried to keep things
tidy in their homes twenty and even
forty centuries ago. The Assyrians of re-
mote antiquity knew them well and were
accustomed to trap and smash them when
they could.
But it would appear that the domestic
coclSroach is a remarkably intelligent an
imal 1t has learned that man and par
ticularly woman, is its relentless foe.
Consequently, it hides whenever it sees
a human DelnS, ana, DelnS a swift runner
and so fiat Of body as to be easily con-
cealed IN a crack or Granny, it is hard
to catch This wisdom is possessed by
all the household species, but especially
by the imported German roach, which is
Familiarity known as the "Croton bug"
1t began to appear in Objectionable num-
bers on this side OF the water at about
the time when the Croton water works
system of New York city was established
and hence the name. Indeed the names
popularity applied to insects of this fam
| lily in various parts of the world are de-
| cidedly interesting. In North Germany
| they are known as "Schwaben"-a title
which applies to the inhabitants of South
| Germany--while the South Germans get
| even by calling them "Preussen," after
| the North Germans. In West Germany
they are called Russians" and in East
Germany "Frenchmen."
| The reaches, 1t appears. belong to a very
| extensive family, and there is reason for
| congratulatlon that comparatively few of
\ the species have become domesticated
| They are inhabitants OF warm countries
| by preference, and in the tropics many
kinds infest houses which in the temper
! ate zone are unknown, while in torrid lati-
| tudes are found ever so many wild varie-
| ties, occurring in immense numbers, and
/ some of them very big and brilliantly col
| ored. One species has a Widespread of
| more than six inches. Reaches are quick
! ly killed by cold, but under suitable condi-
| tons Of temperature, etc, the domestic
representatives often multiply astonish-
ingly, and even in the neighborhood of the
| Arctic circle they occur in the huts Of the
Laplanders, devouring the stores or dried
| fish that are put away for winter con-
| sumption.
1t is appalling to consider the fact that
more than 1000 species of reaches have
been described and are preserved in en-
| genealogical collections. But these are not
| all, for II is estimated that upward Of
| 5000 species exist ait the present time in
| different parts Of the world Happily. the
| great majority OF them live out of doors.
| subsisting on vegetation. In warm coun-
| tries they are very injurious to cultivated
| plants From one point of view they de-
| serve profound respect. inasmuch as theirs
is one Of the most ancient of insect fam
| lies. They were abundant on the earth
| ages before the more common bug forms
Of the present day had begun TO appear
| The species Of reaches existing to-day are
few in number compared with their
abundance at the epoch when the great
| beds of coal which underie the state Of
| Pennsylvania were formed. That era has
been called the era OF cockroaches the
moisture and warmth which then prevail
ed being very favorable 10 their multi
/ plication.
It is unquestionably a fact that the
house reaches OF to-day We're associated
with carly man in his primitive dwell
ings. Through the agency of commerce
| they have followed him wherever naviga-
ton has extended. In fact, on shipboard
| they are especially numerous and trouble
| some. II Is NEST likely that the familiar
species Of the present time came origi-
nally from Asia or Egypt. 1t Is notice
able, by tho way, that two species rarely
occur in any numbers together in the
same house. From this circumstance 1t