CHAPTER XXII 



ORDER DERMAPTERA* 



The Earwigs 



The winged members of this order usually have four wings; hut 

 in some of them the hind wings are vestigial or wanting; the fore wings 

 are leathery, very small, without veins, and when at rest meet in a straight 

 line on the back; the hind wings, when well developed, are large, with 

 radiating veins, and when at rest are folded both lengthwise and crosswise. 

 The mouth-parts are formed for chewing. The caudal end of the body is 

 furnished with a pair of appendages, the cerci, which resemble forceps. 

 The metamorphosis is gradual. 



This order includes only the earwigs. These are long and narrow 

 insects, resembling rove-beetles in the form of the body and in having 

 short and thickened fore wings, which, when 

 at rest, meet in a straight line on the back (Fig. 

 538); but the carvings are easily distinguished 

 from rove-beetles by the presence of a pair of 

 forceps-like appendages at the caudal end of the 

 body. 



The common name, earwig, was given to 

 these insects in England, and has reference to a 

 widely spread fancy that these insects creep 

 into the ears of sleeping persons. Other similar 

 names are applied to them in Europe, Ohr- 

 Wurm in Germany and perceoreille in France. 

 The earwigs are rare in the northeastern 

 United States and Canada, but are more often 

 found in the South and on the Pacific Coast. 

 In Europe they are common, and often trouble- 

 some pests, feeding upon the corollas of flowers, 

 fruits, and other vegetable substances. Al- 

 though they are probably chiefly herbivorous, 

 some species are carnivorous, feeding on other 

 insects, and some are probably scavengers, as 

 they have been found with rove-beetles about 

 deca3ang animal matter. They are nocturnal, hiding in the day-time 

 among leaves and in all kinds of crevices, and coming out by night; 

 sometimes they are attracted to lights. 



Earwigs are small or of moderate size; the living species measure 

 from 2.5 to 37 mm. in length. The body is narrow and flat. The 

 mouth-parts are fitted for chewing, and resemble in their more 

 general features those of the Orthoptera; mintite but distinct parag- 

 natha are present; and the second maxillae are incompletely fused. 



*Derniaptera : derma (d^pfia), skin; pteron {impbv), a wing. 



(460) 



Fig. 538.— An earwig, 

 Labia minor, male. 



