THE EAEWIG AND ITS YOUNG, 229 



does nothing birt deposit the eggs, and then leaves to the 

 workers the task of feeding and nurturing the helpless 

 young. 



But, according to the observations of De Geer, the Earwig 

 forms an honourable exception to this rule, and watches as 

 carefully over the young as a hen does over her chickens. She 

 deposits the eggs in some spot which is at the same time 

 damp and moist, and if one of these conditions should fail 

 shifts the eggs to another place. The same observer noticed 

 that even after the eggs have been intentionally displaced the 

 mother insect will collect and replace them. These curious 

 statements have been corroborated by Mr. Spence, who writes 

 as follows : ' This remarkable fact I have myself witnessed, 

 having found an Earwig under a stone, w^hich I accidentally 

 tiu-ned over, sitting upon a cluster of young ones, just as this 

 celebrated naturalist has described.' 



The larvae very much resemble in form the perfect insect, 

 except that they have no wings, and the forceps are not well 

 developed, the prongs being nearly straight and not possess- 

 ing the bold curve which is seen in the perfect insect. In the 

 pupal state the wing-cases make their appearance in a rudi- 

 mentary form, but the wings are not developed until the insect 

 has passed through its final change. Moreover, in the imper- 

 fect stages of life the Earwig has much fewer joints in the 

 antennae — the perfect insect of the common species having 

 fourteen and the larva only eight. 



Interesting as is the Earwig to the naturalist, it is specially 

 hateful to the gardener. It has a very disagreeable habit of 

 feeding on the petals of flowers, nibbling their edges and 

 making them unsightly. The dahlia and the carnation are 

 favourite flowers with the Earwig, and as a true and perfect 

 edge forms one of the chief points in these flowers the gar- 

 dener has good reason to hate the insect. As, moreover, the 

 Earwigs as a rule feed by night it is no easy matter to guard 

 the flowers from their depredations. 



Disliking the light. Earwigs hide themselves by day in any 

 dark cranny that they can find ; and, by taking advantage of 

 this habit, their numbers can be sensibly diminished, though 

 they cannot be altogether extirpated. For this purpose, gar- 

 deners are in the habit of putting inverted flower-pots, lobster- 



