ROACHES AND OTHER ANCIENT INSECTS
The Croton bug, or German roach (Fig. 49 A), makes a small fiat tabloid egg case, which the female usually carries about with her for some time projecting from the end of her body, and sometimes the eggs hatch while she is still carrying the case. The American and Australian roaches (Fig. 49 B, C) make egg cases much resembling miniature pocketbooks or tobacco pouches, about three-eighths or half an inch in length, with a serrated clasp along the upper edge (Fig. 50 A, B). The cases of some of the smaller species of roaches are only one-sixteenth of an inch long
Fig. 51. Young of the German roach, or Croton bug (fig. 49 A), in various stages just before and after hatching
A, the young roach in the egg just before hatching. B, the young roach just after hatching, shedding its embryonic covering membrane. C, young roach after shedding the embryonic covering. D, the same individual half an hour old
(C), while larger species may make a case three-quarters of an inch in length (E).
The embryo roaches mature within the eggs, and when they are ready to hatch they emerge inside the egg case. By some means, the roughened edge of the case where it was last closed is opened to allow the imprisoned insects to escape. Small masses of the tiny creatures now bulge out, and finally the whole wriggling contents of the capsule is projecting from the slit. First one or two individuals free themselves, then several together fall out, then more of them, until soon the case containing the empty eggshells is deserted.
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