Earwigs 



use of it comes from the Anglo-Saxon earwicga. In this country 

 especially in the South the same name is applied to the common 

 house centipede. An early advocate of the doctrine of similia 

 similibus curantur anticipated Hahneman by prescribing earwigs, 

 dried, pulverized and mixed with the urine of a hare, as a remedy 

 for deafness. 



There are very few earwigs in the Northern States. Some, 

 however, appear in the South and along the Pacific slope, but no 

 damage has been reported from these insects in this country. In 

 Europe, however, and particularly in England, earwigs are said 

 to be injurious and are said to nibble the petals of flowers. There 

 is considerable doubt, however, as to the accuracy of this inference, 

 which seems to have been made by gardeners. The entomolo- 

 gists who have studied the question of the food of the earwigs 

 have been unable to find that they do anything of the sort. 

 They are really carnivorous, living upon dead insects, upon small 

 snails, and upon small living caterpillars. It is suggested that 

 the gardeners have held the earwigs responsible for damage 

 which was really done by other insects, perhaps even the very 

 ones upon which the earwigs have preyed. A curious habit 

 which earwigs are said to possess is that the females brood over 

 the eggs. They take the greatest care of them, collect them 

 when scattered and move them from place to place in an endeavor 

 to secure the best position for their development. When the 

 eggs are hatched, however, the female does not care for her 

 young. From this fact it would seem that the female earwig is 

 not as good a mother as the female Psocus, which as we shall 

 show, keeps her young by her after hatching and in fact seems 

 to show a decided appreciation of family ties. All of the earwigs 

 are contained in the single family Forficulidae. 



34B 



