42 LIFE STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN INSECTS. 



in protecting itself, or in opening or in packing the 

 wings. These forceps or callipers vary much in 

 the male earAvigs. 



Life History of Large Brown Earwig. 



(Labidnra truncata-) 



The eggs are deposited in the ground, and the 

 young come forth in early spring. The baby ear- 

 wigs resemble the parent in general shape, but 

 are without wings. (In the wingless forms the 

 larvae can only be distinguished by smaller size 

 and softer integument.) 



At first the antennas consist only of a few joints, 

 but increase to 13 or 14 in the perfect insect. The 

 adult stage is reached by a series of moults. The 

 wings begin to appear after the fourth moult. We 

 have observed the great concern which the mother 

 earwig shows for her young, never leaving the tiny 

 burrow in which the eggs have been placed, until 

 the young are hatched. She then broods over 

 the little company much as a hen would over her 

 chickens, trying to get them under her own body 

 at the slighest approach of danger. 



Few insects show such maternal care, for many 

 parents die before the young leave the tgg, and 

 then mother nature is the only nurse they know. 



Their food consists of decaying vegetable or 

 insect matter, and even small living insects are at- 

 tacked. Many small types of earwigs exist. One 

 is distinguished by having the pincers of unequal 

 length. Some are wingless. An Australian 

 wingless type is Anisolabis (Plate 7, Fig. 8.) 



