38 



CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE. 



her eggs are deposited in a long row. Much damage is often done from 

 this cause, when the insect is numerous, as the twigs are likely to die 

 above the point of damage. 



The Earwigs. — Until recently the earwigs were classed with the 

 Orthoptera, but a new order, Euplexoptera, has been erected for them. 

 \ These insects are readily recog- 



nized by the forceps-like appen- 

 dages at the end of the body. These 

 organs are used in folding the wings 

 of the insect, which are snugly 

 tucked away under the wing covers 

 when at rest. They are vegetable- 

 feeders, and where numerous do 

 much damage. They are noctur- 

 nal in their habits and are not fre- 

 quently met with in the daytime. 

 In California the order is repre- 

 sented by Amsolabis, a black, wingless species, about three fourths of 

 an inch long, with short, heavy forceps. 



FIG. 39. Full- 

 grown larva 

 of earwig 

 ( Forflcula 

 auricularia). 

 Enlarged. 



FIG. 40. Adult earwig (For- 

 flcula auricalaria). En- 

 larged. 



Older HEMIPTERA. 



We now come to the order of most importance to the fruit-grower 

 and the farmer, for in this we find the greater number of enemies of 

 plant life; in fact, while there are some beneficial species in it, we may 

 say that it is the pest order of the insect world. In this we find the 

 entire group of scale bugs, the aphids or plant-lice, the phylloxera of 

 the grape, and woolly-aphis of the apple; it gives us those most detested 

 of all insects, bedbugs and lice. It is a bad order, but as there is no 

 such thing as unmixed evil or absolute good, so even this order, com- 

 posed as it is wholly of suckers, supplies us with some members that 

 work for our good. There are those which prey upon their kind; the 

 assassin-bugs as they are called, from the fact that they are predaceous 

 upon other insects and live by sucking the blood of their fellows. 



The name Hemiptera means half-winged, and these insects are so 

 named from the fact that most of the members of this order have wing 

 covers that are partly thick and leathery, and partly thin and mem- 

 branous. While this name was given to the order at an early date, and 

 was tolerably applicable to it, still there were found to be a great many 

 insects which properly belonged here to which it was not applicable, as 

 their wings were not half-and-half, so the order has been divided into 

 two suborders, called Hetcroptr.ra, having diverse wings, and Homop- 

 tera, having similar wings, so an insect in this order is either Hemip- 

 tera homoptera, or Hemiptera heteroptera. There is still another group 

 belonging to this order, the members of which are wingless, which prey 



