Children, here is a cockroach.

It was one of the first insects that came to live on the earth; cockroaches were here before people, and they are here yet.

You do not think it is pretty?

Neither do I.

I don't know anybody who thinks a cockroach pretty.

Oh, no, it won't bite you.

It will only get into your pantry and eat your food.

It will walk around in the night and frighten you if you go suddenly into the kitchen.

It will not frighten you on purpose, but when it hears you coming, it will run, and then maybe you will scream and run too.

What is that, May? You've a good mind to scream and run as it is?

Very well, scream and run if you want to; the cockroach won't care.

We do not often see these big black fellows in the North, but sometimes we do. Down South cockroaches seem to be everywhere.

What, May? You are never going South, then?

Well, you do not need to go; the cockroaches won't care.

They have little heads and long antennÆ, like threads.

What is that, May? You don't care anything about their heads? You don't want to know anything about cockroaches?

Oh, yes, you want to know about cockroaches. Remember how old they are.

They have six legs, you see.

You don't care how many legs they have?

Oh, yes, you do. They could not walk if they had no legs.

You wish they couldn't walk?

Dear me, May; you don't seem to like cockroaches.

Poor old cockroaches.

Think how old they are.

What is that you say? They are old enough to know better?

Why, May, what have they ever done to you?

Nothing, only you don't like them?

Well, well, they don't like you, either. Poor old cockroaches; nobody seems to like them.

Perhaps they don't care.

Will you let me tell you where they came from?

They do not belong to this country.

Their natural home is tropical Asia.

You see, about four hundred years ago, the ships that bore fruits and other merchandise from India and other warm countries in Asia, bore, as well, a number of little, flat, reddish brown stowaways.

Stowaways, as you know, are people that do not buy their tickets, but that hide among the ship's cargo, and so get free transportation to other countries.

Well, these little flat stowaways were not human beings, they were insects. Yes, May, they were the cockroaches.

When they landed from their hot land of Asia in cold England, they must have wondered what was to become of them. Many of them no doubt died, for they cannot stand cold weather at all; but some of them were carried, with the fruits and other things, quite unintentionally, of course, for nobody guessed they were there, into warm cellars and kitchen cupboards.

Then they felt at home!

They knew better than to leave the cosey nooks where they could hide away and sleep all day, and when they came out at night would find a delicious supper close at hand.

They are great eaters, you know, so what with the good things in the pantry and the warmth of the kitchen quarters they prospered wherever they could find a kitchen to live in.

Soon they spread all over the large cities of England and finally into even remote country districts.

Of course they found their way to the United States of America, and in many houses in the North they have taken lodging. But down South, where it is always warm enough, they have prospered greatly, and they are there in far greater numbers than in the North.

Besides, there is a large American cockroach that belongs to tropical America, but that has found its way pretty well over the country. And there are cockroaches that live in the woods, some of them coming in the night to visit our houses and help themselves from our pantries.

Yes, Mollie, the cockroaches eat almost anything they can find, and what they do not eat they spoil by an ill-smelling liquid they give out when disturbed.

It is this liquid that makes the cockroaches so very offensive to us. We cannot bear to touch one because of it.

Cockroaches eat one variety of food that nobody objects to their having. They are fond of bed bugs and greedily devour them.

Besides the large, dark, reddish brown cockroaches there is a little tan-colored fellow that is often very troublesome.

It is not a native of this country, but is supposed to have been brought to England by soldiers from the Crimea, and later it found its way to America.

We call it the croton bug, but it is not a bug at all, it is a cockroach.

It is particularly numerous about water pipes, and, like the rest of the cockroaches, it hides in the daytime.

At night out troop crowds and crowds of the little tan-colored water bugs. They run about the floor, and over the pantry shelves. They get into everything they can find, and have a beautiful time.

They are funny little fellows, and if they were not so troublesome, we might admire them.

How they can run!

All the cockroaches run very fast, so that it is hard to catch one. And they are hard and smooth, too, which makes it yet more difficult to catch them. They are well made to escape their enemies, and they are so flat they can hide in cracks or almost anywhere.

No, May, they do not fly very much. You see this one has short wings. It is a male cockroach. The female of this species of cockroach has no wings at all, only little hints of wings, as it were.

Such little useless wings we call "rudimentary" wings.

John says he thinks that is a long word for short wings.

Yes, but it is not a hard word,—ru-di-ment-ary, see if you can remember it.

The croton bugs have longer wings and they sometimes fly.

If you were to spread out the wings of a cockroach, you would find it had four.

What is that, May? You wouldn't spread them out for anything?

Yet wise men have been very much interested in our poor, ill-smelling old cockroaches, and have studied carefully all about them.

If you dislike to touch the cockroach so much, perhaps you will look at this picture of a croton bug.

See, the upper wings are different; the cockroach does not fly with them, he merely uses them to cover up the under wings, and we call them wing covers.

It is the under wings the cockroach flies with.

Cockroaches may not be pleasant, but who can say they are not interesting?

What other insect lays its eggs in little bandboxes?

Here is one of the little boxes, shiny and hard.

This little case is at first a sticky substance that soon hardens. The eggs lie in it side by side in two rows.

These cases remain attached to the abdomen of the female cockroach until the eggs are all laid. Then the case falls off, and soon out runs a crowd of infant cockroaches.

The case is something like a satchel that shuts with a spring. The youngsters are packed close together, side by side, with their heads towards the mouth of the satchel.

As soon as one hatches it pushes open the side of the case and creeps out. Then the case springs together again to protect the rest of the brood.

They are funny fellows when they first come out, little and white-looking. But they eat and grow of course, and shed their skins, and after each moult they become darker in color.

Now, do look again at this cockroach I have taken such pains to catch for you and put into the tumbler.

I think even May will own that it has a cunning little head.

See it turn its head around to look at us.

After all, the cockroach is a knowing little fellow.

This one is hungry; it has had nothing to eat for some time. We will give it this crumb of cake.

Be careful, or it will get away; it can run very fast, and it is very quick, you see, in all its motions.

Ah, it is examining the crumb with the tips of its long antennÆ.

See how daintily it touches the crumb.

It can smell with its antennÆ, you know.

Now it has decided the cake is good to eat.

See how eager it is!

It almost stands on its head to reach just the part it wants.

John says he does not understand how insects smell with their antennÆ.

I can tell you a little about it, John.

If you look at one of the cockroach's antennÆ under the magnifying glass, you will see it is made up of a good many short pieces, or segments, as we call them, fastened together end to end.

Yes, Mollie, that is why it can move about so easily. It can curl up like a whiplash, you see.

Next the head is a round segment that fits into a socket.

Double up your right fist and fit it into the half-closed palm of your left hand.

There! That is like the ball-and-socket joint.

You see you can move your fist around in all directions.

The insect can move its antennÆ in all directions because they are fastened to its head by ball-and-socket joints.

On the segments of the antennÆ, particularly towards the tip, are little dots.

You cannot see the dots without the help of a strong microscope, but they are there.

These little dots are sensitive spots. There is a nerve coming from the insect's brain to each dot.

Some of the dots are sensitive to odors, just as the nerves of our nose are sensitive to odors.

May thinks it is very funny that the insects smell with antennÆ instead of with noses.

The insects, no doubt, would think it very funny for us to smell with, noses instead of with antennÆ, if they thought about it at all.

The little dots on the antennÆ are extremely sensitive to smells. They are often much more sensitive than our noses.

Put a bit of food at some distance from a hungry cockroach, and it will not be long before a pair of long, sensitive feelers will come waving to and fro out of some dark corner.

Little Mrs. Cockroach has smelled the dainty morsel, and, as soon as it is dark, out she will run, her feelers moving eagerly this way and that, until she has found it.

Yes, May, insects also feel with their antennÆ. That is why the antennÆ are often called "feelers."

There are other dots on the segments that are sensitive to touch. Sometimes there are tiny hairs on the antennÆ, also sensitive to touch.

The little fellows feel and smell, yes, and oftentimes hear with their antennÆ.

Many insects have spots sensitive to sound on the antennÆ.

Yes, indeed, May, it is wonderful that such tiny threads as an insect's antennÆ should hold so many kinds of sensitive spots.

An insect's antennÆ are among the most wonderful things in the world.

And I think a cockroach, in spite of its bad reputation, is a very wonderful little fellow.

What is that, May? Our cockroach is drawing one of its antennÆ through its mouth?

Ah, yes, see it clean its antenna, children.

It seems to nibble at it as it draws it through its mouth.

Insects are very careful to keep their antennÆ clean.

It would not do to let these sensitive spots become covered with dust, you know.