DERMAPTERA: EARWIGS. 



DERMAPTERA 



The name of the order alludes to the skin-like, really 

 leather-like, front wings. Another name which is some- 

 times used is Euplexoptera and alludes to the skill with 

 which they fold their hind wings. Grant Allen, in his 

 essay on Those Horrid Earwigs, has written entertain- 

 ingly of this matter. They sometimes come to porch 

 lights but are not really common with us. Of the nick- 

 name, Allen says: "It is called earwig, gossips will tell 

 you, because it creeps into the ears of incautious sleepers 

 in the open air, and so worms its w r ay to the brain, where, 

 if you will believe the purveyors of folk-lore natural history, 

 it grows to a gigantic size, 'as big as a goose's egg,' and 

 finally kills its unhappy victim. It is true, science knows 

 nothing of this form of brain-disease; it has tried the case 

 before an impartial tribunal and the earwig has left the 

 court without a stain on its character." 



Earwigs are easily confused with Staphalinid (and some 

 other) beetles because the front wings of neither cover the 

 body, but earwigs may be distinguished by their having 

 pincers on behind (compare Plates XVI and LXXV). 

 These insects are nocturnal; by day they live under stones, 

 in decayed wood, in earthworm burrows and the like. It 

 seems to be a mistake about their feeding on plants; they 

 are probably entirely carnivorous and go on plants to look 

 for dead or living insects to eat. The mother sits on a 

 cluster of eggs like a brooding hen in order to guard them, 

 not for incubation since insects are "cold-blooded." The 

 young resemble their parents except that they have no 

 wings and they are said to stick rather closely to mother 

 for some time after they are hatched. All the common 

 species in the Northeast arc transatlantic introductions. 

 Anisolabis maritime, measures nearly, or quite, an inch in 

 length when adult and lacks wings. It is found under the 

 wash-up on the sea beach. The antennal joints of For- 

 ficula are cylindrical; auricular ia, common in England, is 

 one of several species found in greenhouses here. The 

 antennal joints of Labia minor (Plate XVI) are wider at 

 the apices than at the bases ; it is our most common inland 

 species. 



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