Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-02

One other redeemins trait has been re-
corded of them, namely. that they will
prey upon that other grievous pest OF
houses which are not subjected to careful
supervision, the bedbug. Their habits III
this direction have been recorded several
times One writer. in a narrative of a
voyage, makes the following statement in
this connection:
Cockroaches, those nuisances to ships
are Plentiful at st. Helena. and yet bad
as they are, they are more endurabIc than
bugs. Previous TO our arrival here in the
Chandelier, we had suffered great incon-
venlence from the latter but the cock
reaches no sooner made their appearance
than the bugs entirely disappeared. The
fact Is that the cockroach preys upon
them and leaves no sign vestige Of
where they have BEEN So that 1t Is a most
valuable insect.
The cockroach Is. however. far too RI Ich
of a nuisance itself to warrant its being
recommended means of eradicatfng
even the much more diSagrceable insect
referred to-
Eat Children's Eyclashcs.
The following interesting letter from Mr..
Herbert H. Smith, the collector and nat
uralist, gives a vivid picture of the roach
nuisance in the tropics:
Cockroaches are so common in Brazil
an country houses that nobody pays any
attention to them. They have an unpleas-
ant way of getting into provision boxes,
and they deface books. Shoes and some
times clothing Where wall paper is used
they soon eat IL off in unsightiy patches.
no doubt seeking the paste bereath. But at
Corumba, on the upper Paraguay. l came
across the cockroach in a new role In
the house where we We're STAYING there
were nearly dozen children. and every
one of them had their eyelashes more or
less eaten off by cockroache-a large
brown species. one of the commoEest kind
throughout Brazil. The eyelashes were
bitten off irregulariy. in some places quite
close to the lid. Like most Brazilians
these children had very long, black eye
was odd enough. The trouble was confined
to children. 1 suppose because they are
heavy sleepers and do not disturb the In
sects at work. My wife and I sometimes
night. but thought nothing more of the
matter. The reaches also bite off bits
of the toe nails. Brazilians very properly
encourage the large house SPIDERS because
they tend 70 rid the house of other insect
pests
The local spread of reaches from house
to house is undoubtedly often effected by
their being introduced with supplies. furni-
ture, goods, etc. That the Croton bug or
German roach. and probably the other spe-
cies also, may develop a migratory instinct
has been witnessed by DR.. Howard and
the writer in Washington.
This very Interesting instance Of what
seems to have been a true migration, in
which an army of thousands of reaches by
quarters and started on a search for
more favorable loca ton, illustrates as
pointed out by DR.. Howard, what Is prob
ably Of frequent occurrence under the
cover of darkness, and accounts for the
way in which houses frequently be-
come suddenly overrun with these vermin.
Like the crows among birds. the reaches
among insects are apparently unusually
well endowed with the ability to guard
themselves against enemies, displaying
great Intelligence In keeping out of the way
Of the irate housekeeper and In avoiding
food or other substances which have been
doctored with poisons for their benefit
Their keenness in this direction is unques-
tlonably the Inheritance of many centuries
during which the hand Of man has ever
been raised against them.
The means against these insects. includ-
Ing always vigilance and cleanliness as
important preventives, are three, namely
destruction by poisons. by fumigation with
poisonous gases and by trapping
As just noted. reaches often seem to dis
play knowledge OF the presence of pol
sons In food. and, notwithstanding their
practically omnivorous habits, very little
arsenic in bats seems to be readily detect
ed by them. In attempting to eradicate
reaches from the department store rooms
where cloth-bound books are kept various
paste mixtures containing arsenic were
tried. but the reaches invariably refused
to feed on them in the least. This applies
particularly to the German roach, or Gro
ton bug, and may not hold so strongly with
the less wary and perhaps less intelligent
larger reaches.
Powders and Other Devices.
A common remedy suggested for reaches
consists in the liberal use of pyrethrum
powder or buhach. and when this is per-
sisted in considerable relief will be gained
1t Is not a perfect remedy, however, and
Is at best but temporary expedient while
1t has the additional disadvantage of soil
ing the shelves or other objects over which
1t Is busted. When used 1t should be fresh
and literally applied. Reaches are often
paralyzed by it when not killed outright.
and the morning after an application the
infested premises should be gone over and
all the dead partially paralyzed reaches
swept UP and burned.
There are many proprietary substances
which claim to be fairly effective roach
poisons. The usefulness of most of these
Is, however, very problematical, and dis
appointment will ordinarily follow their APP
plicaticn The only one of these that has
given very satisfactory results Is a phos-
phoroIs paste. also sold in the form of
pills. 1t probably consists of sweetened
flour paste containing PHOSPHORUS and is
spread on bits of paper or cardboard and
placed In the runwayS of the reaches It
has been used very successfully in the de-
partment TO free desks from Croton bugs
numbers Of the dead insects being found in
the drawers every day during the time
the poison was kept about.
Wherever reaches infest small rooms or
apartments which may be sealed I'D near
iy air tight, and also on shipboard. the
roach nuisance can be greatly abated by
the proper use Of poisonous gases, notably
bisulphde of carbon. The smoke of burn
ing gunpowder is also very obnoxious and
deadly to reaches, particularly the black
English roach. On the authority of Mr.
Theo. Perg.ande. glnpoWder is commonly
used in Germany to drive these reaches out
of their haunts about fireplaces. The
method consists in moldng cones of the
moistened powder and placing them in the
empty fireplace and lighting them The
smoke coming from the burning powder
causes the reaches to come out of the crew
ices about the chimney and fire bricks in
great numbers. and rapidly paralyzes or
kills them. so that they may be afterward
swept up and destroyed. This remedy will
only apply to cid houses with large fire
places. and has no especial significance for
the modern house. 1t is presented, how
ever, as a means applicable wherever con-
di:ions similar to those described occur
Some of the Traps.
Various forms of traps have been very
successfully employed in England and on
the continent Of Europe as a means of
collecting and destroying reaches These
devices are all so constructed that the
reaches may easily get into them and can
not afterward escape. The destruction of