292 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Fhotf^ by Highley 



STICK-INSECT 



The largcit insect knoivn is a species of sthk-insect ; it is a naiii'e of 

 Borneoy and measures ij inches 



Ph,u h SihtUilK fhclo. Ce.] [/'arjon'i &>«n 



WALKING LEAF-INSECTS 



Nal.ies of the Euit Injie.'y and remarkable Jlr their resemblance to 

 green lea'ves 



incurved at the extremity. There are two 

 varieties, in one of which the forceps is 

 twice as long as in the other; but inter- 

 mediate gradations do not seem to be met 

 with. In the female the forceps is narrow, 

 nearly straight, and appro.ximating. The 

 earwig i.s a nocturnal insect, and hides itself 

 during the day in large-headed flowers, like 

 dahlias, to which it is very destructive, or 

 in any convenient dark and narrow crevice, 

 especially among decaying vegetable matter. 

 It derives its name from its occasionally 

 entering the human ear, but it may be 

 easily dri\en out by dropping in a little olive 

 oil. In most books it is denied that earwigs 

 enter the ear at all, but it is, nevertheless, 

 an undoubted fact ; and the fanciful deriva- 

 tion that has been suggested of eariving in 

 the place of earwig cannot be entertained 

 respecting an insect which seldom shows its 

 wings at all. It should be noted that the 

 female earwig is said to tend her young 

 very much as a hen tends her chickens — an 

 uncommon habit in insects. 



The COJIMON COCKRO.\CH is too well 

 known to need description. The individuals 

 with half-developed wings are the perfect 

 females ; but there are other species in which 

 the wings are fully developed in both sexes, 

 others in which the male is winged and 

 the female wingless, and others again in 

 which both se.xes are wingless. In warm 

 countries and on ship-board cockroaches are 

 far more troublesome than in cold climes ; 

 and the large brown ones, with a mark on 

 the back of the thorax resembling a crown, 

 and very broad wing-cases and wings, are 

 called Drummers in the West Indies, from 

 the loud noise they keep up during the 

 night. 



Lady Burton has given an amusing 

 account of her introduction to cockroaches 

 abroad: " /Vfter two days we were given a 

 very pleasant suite of rooms — bedroom, 

 dining- and drawing-room — with wide win- 

 dows overlooking the Tagus and a great part 

 of Lisbon. These quarters were, however, 

 not without drawbacks, for here occurred an 

 incident which gave me a foretaste of the 

 sort of thing I was to expect in Brazil. 

 Our bedroom was a large whitewashed place ; 

 there were three holes in the wall, one at 



