EA.IIWIGS. 81 



OKDER OPvTHOPTERA. 



Mandibulate insects, with four wings, the anterior wings 

 (called tegmina) much narrower than the hind wings, less hard than 

 in the Coleoptera, and leathery rather than horny in their texture ; 

 metamorphoses incomplete, the larva and pupa being active ; hind 

 legs often formed for leaping ; eggs generally enclosed in a case. 



These insects are exceedingly numerous and destructive in 

 warm climates, but are only represented in Britain by about sixty 

 species, few of which are really abundant. They include the Ear- 

 wigs, Cockroaches, Crickets, Locusts, Grasshoppers, etc. They are 

 divided into four groups and seven families, the first being some- 

 times regarded as a separate Order, viz. Euplexoptera (ForfiaUidce); 

 Cursoria (Blattidce) ; Grcssoria {Mantidm and Phasmidm) ; Saltatoria 

 {Achetidce, Gryllidce, and Locustidm). 



Family I. — ForficuUdce. 

 Tegmina very short, beneath which the ample wings are 

 partially folded ; abdomen terminating in a forceps. This family 

 includes the Earwigs, which have so great a resemblance to the 

 Stajjhylinidx that Linn6 and his immediate followers placed them 

 at the end of the Coleoptera ; but all modern authors, except those 

 who regard them as forming a distinct Order, have included them 

 with the Orthoptera. The majority of the species are nocturnal, 

 hiding themselves in cracks and crevices, or among flowers or dead 

 leaves, during the day ; some species, however, are diurnal, such as 

 Labia Minor, Leach, which fl^ies by day. Forfimla Aurkidaria, Linn, 

 (the common Earwig), feeds chiefly on vegetable matter, and is very 

 destructive to fruit and flowers ; and it is difficult to find a dahlia 

 which does not conceal several among its closely conglomerated 

 petals. Unlike most other insects, the female does not perish as 

 soon as she has laid her eggs, but lives to behold her oflTspring, 

 brooding over her eggs and young almost like a hen. But it is 

 distressing to learn that if the mother should die she is immedi- 



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