Time Required for Food Passage through the Alimentary Tract of the Cockroach, Periplaneta Americana Linn.

Abstract

Mechanical movements of parts of the alimentary tract have been described for a semi-tropical roach, Periplaneta fuliginosa (6), but no extensive studies in time requirements for passage of food through the gut of any roach, or other insect, seem to be available. Velocity records of food movement through, and waste egestion from, the digestive canal of a typical, comparatively unspecialized insect in normal digestion should be of interest in providing a basis for comparison with time requirements for food passage after feeding stomach poisons. It may be that certain combinations of food types and stomach poisons may result in faster or slower passage of ingested mixtures. Such control of movement of poisoned food would be valuable to insect toxicologists. It may be, too, that mixing certain poisons with some particular class of food-stuffs will result in more effective insecticides. This paper reports results from investigations on passage and egestion times of one type of food when fed to the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana . Other experiments are in progress. The roach was selected because of its size, its ease in handling, its adaptability to laboratory conditions, its phylogenetic position, and its omnivorous food habits.