Roaches Traced To Steam Tunnel By Exterminators

Exterminators have traced the cockroaches in the band room and Union to the University's underground steam tunnels, Kenneth H. Lang '58, band manager, stated yesterday.

Lang asserted that "there is no evidence that the insects enter the Band offices from the Union." Furthermore, he added that the Band office "very rarely has insect problems, certainly no more often than in any other University building."

The cockroach investigation in the Band office was made at 6:30 in the morning. Two men entered the office through the connecting door to the Union. When queried by a Band member, they denied that they were searching for insects.

Both got down on their hands and knees and looked under the Union door. "I don't see how any of them could crawl under here," one said. They left.

When contacted last night, a member of the Buildings and Grounds crew refuted the steam tunnel theory. "The steam tunnels are spotless, spick-and-span, all painted white," he said. "I don't see how it's possible for roaches to reside there."

Both Union officials and the Buildings and Grounds member agreed that the roaches were not attracted by dirt in the Union. But whereas some Union employees seemed to feel that the insects were a permanent annoyance in the tunnels, the maintenance crewman said that the cockroaches were not "habitual Cambridge dwellers." He added, "They probably come over from East Cambridge."