Do Cockroaches eat Bed Bugs?

HOWLETT, writing on bed bugs in Lefroy's book on ``Indian Insect Life'', states: ``In America cockroaches and small red ants are mentioned by Marlatt (U.S. Ent. Circular, No. 47) as being fond of eating bugs, the ants in particular being effective checks.'' In the account of cockroaches, however, Lefroy himself writes, ``these insects are `scavengers', and none is known to feed on living plant tissue or to attack living insects''. In view of the contradictory nature of the two statements, my experience with these insects at Bombay is perhaps worth recording.