Читать книгу The Structure and Life-history of the Cockroach (Periplaneta orientalis) - L. C. Miall - Страница 18

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As to the food of Cockroaches, we can hardly except any animal or vegetable substance from the long list of their depredations. Bark, leaves, the pith of living cycads, paper, woollen clothes, sugar, cheese, bread, blacking, oil, lemons, ink, flesh, fish, leather, the dead bodies of other Cockroaches, their own cast skins and empty egg-capsules, all are greedily consumed. Cucumber, too, they will eat, though it disagrees with them horribly.

In the matter of temperature they are less easy to please. They are extremely fond of warmth, lurking in nooks near the oven, and abounding in bakehouses, distilleries, and all kinds of factories which provide a steady heat together with a supply of something eatable. Cold is the only check, and an unwarmed room during an English winter is more than they can endure. They are strictly nocturnal, and shun the light, although when long unmolested they become bolder. The flattened body enables the Cockroach to creep into very narrow crevices, and during cold weather it takes refuge beneath the flags of a kitchen floor, or in other very confined spaces.

The Cockroach belongs to a miscellaneous group of animals, which may be described as in various degrees parasitic upon men. These are all in a vague sense domestic species, but have not, like the ox, sheep, goat, or pig, been forcibly reduced to servitude; they have rather attached themselves to man in various degrees of intimacy. The dog has slowly won his place as our companion; the cat is tolerated and even caressed, but her attachment is to the dwelling and not to us; the jackal and rat are scavengers and thieves; the weasel, jackdaw, and magpie are wild species which show a slight preference for the neighbourhood of man. All of these, except the cat, which holds a very peculiar place, possess in a considerable degree qualities which bring success in the great competitive examination. They are not eminently specialised, their diet is mixed, their range as natural species is wide. Apart from man, they would have become numerous and strong, but those qualities which fit them so well to shift for themselves, have had full play in the dwellings of a wealthy and careless host. Of these domestic parasites at least two are insects, the House-fly and the Cockroach; and the Cockroach in particular is eminent in its peculiar sphere of activity. The successful competition of Cockroaches with other insects under natural conditions is sufficiently proved by the fact that about nine hundred species have already been described,22 while their rapid multiplication and almost worldwide dissemination in the dwellings of man is an equally striking proof of their versatility and readiness to adapt themselves to artificial circumstances. In numerical frequency they probably exceed all domestic animals of larger size, while in geographical range the five species, lapponica, germanica, orientalis, americana, and australasiæ, are together comparable to the dog or pig, which have been multiplied and transported by man for his own purposes, and which cover the habitable globe.