78 Natural Histoi^ of the Earwig, 



gate, and Cheltenham ; and we may remark, that those of 

 Seidschutz and PiiUna are not considered fit for medicinal use, 

 until they have stood long enough in their basins to become 

 adequately impregnated with saline particles, which their taste 

 then indicates. 



The method practised in bottling artificial mineral waters, 

 whereby decomposition is entirely obviated, is an advantage 

 which the natural springs do not possess. With regard to a 

 pump-room, at which mineral waters of many various kinds are 

 dispensed, the facility of relinquishing the use of one spring in 

 favour of another, without sacrifice either of time or expense, 

 must be equally appreciated by the physician and the patient. 

 A gradual transition from a weaker to a more powerful spring — 

 even a mixture of two remote ones, a mode of treatment often 

 attended with benefit — is thus alone rendered feasible ; and 

 where experiment is the object of the practitioner, the conve- 

 nience afforded by such an establishment is too obvious to need 

 any further remark. 



Natural History of the Earwig. 



Insects. — Class 5. — Order 1. Coleoptera. — Wings 2, covered by two shells^ divided 

 by a longitudinal suture. 

 Genus Forjicula. — Antennae tapering; shells abbreviated; wings folded and 



covered ; tail forked, resembling a forceps ; in each foot three joints. 

 Species Auricularia. — Earwig. — Antennae of fourteen joints ; brown ; body 

 depressed 5 shells tipt with white; length when full grown, eight lines. 



The Earwig is common and well known j it is rather an ugly 

 and hostile looking insect : its very name has given it a cha- 

 racter of dread, and, consequently, is an object for destruction^ 

 whenever or wherever met with. 



This insect changes from its chrysalis state in the spring and 

 early summer months. From heaps of garden or field rubbish, 

 dunghills, or hot beds, they may be seen on fine warm evenings 

 issuing forth in great numbers, immediately taking flight, rising 

 to a considerable height in the air, where they disport them- 

 selves on wing till darkness sets in, when they descend and 

 retire to hiding-places till the next evening. 



