LIBRARY

114 COLLEGE ENTOMOLOGY
abdomen which is velvety opaque, hence the common name dusty-tail. It
burrows beneath piles of leaves, trash, and similar debris and is a swift runner;
gives birth to living young; and often feeds on the underground stems, roots,
and tubers of plants and is an intermediate host of the nematode eyewonn of
poultry in the tropics.
Other cosmopolitan species of the family are: the brown-banded cockroach,
Supella supellectiliunL (Serville), Ischnoptera rufescens (Beauvois), RhyparoiJia
maderre (Fabricius), and Naupha!la cinerea (Olivier). Eoblatta notulata (SHU)
is a tropical species similar to the common cockroach but has numerous dark
markings on the pronotum. It occurs both in the household and in the open
country.
The giant death's head roach, Blaberus cranz'lfer Burmeister, is the largest
cockroach in the United States, attaining a length of 42-55 mm. Markings on
the dark brown pronotum, resembling somewhat a fanciful skull, account [01'
the name. It occurs in Florida, West Indies, Mexico, and Central America.
The giant drummer, Blabems gigantf'lls (Linmeus), a similar species 50 mm.
long, has the remarkable habit of drumming on wooel with its femora, and a
large colony may make su[:ficienl noise in a dwelling to arouse the inmates from
slumber. It occurs in the West Indies, Central America, and tropical South
America.
The beetle roach or cypress girdler, Diploptera dytiscoides (Serville), is brownish-black
and as long as 45 rnm. The wings are folded longitudinally and also
transversely, and the tegmina are without veins. The general appearance is
that of a ground or water beetle. It is both nocturnal and diurnal, ovoviviparous,
and often abundant on plants which may be injured by its feeding. It
occurs throughout the tropical Pacific Islands.
The brown wingless cockroach, Cryptocerus punctulatus Scudder, is a curious
polished, dark-brown species with reddish antenna! and legs, which measures
23-30 mm. in length. It occurs in wet, rotting wood or under the bark of dead
logs upon which it subsists. It occurs in many parts of the United States from
New York and Georgia on the Atlantic seaboard to Washington and California
on the Pacific coast.
SELECTED REFERENCES
BI,ATCIIEY, W. S., 01't/lOptera of Northeastern America, pp. 59-114, figs. aO-/!9, Nature
Pub. Co., Indianapolis, 1920.
BRUNNER, C. v. WA1'TENWYL, Nouveau systcme des Blaitair£'s, pp. 1-426, 13 pIs., Wien,
1865.
Essw, E. 0., Insects oj western North America, pp. 102-106, fig. 65, Macmillan, N, y"
1926.
HANlTSCH, R, "Malayan Blattidre," Jour. Royal Asiatic Soc., StraUs Branch 69: 17-
178, 1915.
HEBARD. M., "The Blattidre of North America North of the Mexican Boundary," Mem.
Am. Ent. Soc, (2): 1-284, 10 pis., 1917.
MIALL, L. C., and A. DENNY, The struclure and ltfe-histary of tlte cockroach, pp. 1-224,
125 figs., Lovell Reeve & Co" London, 1886.