FAMILY I.- EARWIGS. S5 



tegmina, without veins, which meet, as in beetles, in a 

 straight line down the back ; they cover partially the lower 

 wings, which are furnished with a peculiar network of veins, 

 as may be seen in the illustration (Fig. 49). These lower 



wings are large when extended, 

 and present a beautiful appear- 

 ance with their numerous radiat- 

 ing veins, which in closing the 

 wing act as the bars of a fan. 

 When snuglj' hidden away under 

 Fig. 49.-wing of i.Rbia minor. ^^^ ^rasiW uppcr wiug it is difficult 



to understand how such a large object can be folded up into 

 such a small space. This is done by first folding the wing 

 longitudinally, and a second time transversely. It is very 

 amusing to watch an earwig folding or unfolding these 

 wings, as it needs for this purpose the assistance of the horny 

 cerci resembling forceps. The tarsi are composed of three 

 joints, and no pulvilli are found between the claws. 



But two species are found in Minnesota, where these 

 insects are rare. Earwigs are nocturnal in their habits, 

 hiding during the day among all sorts of litter and in cracks 

 and crevices. Sometimes they are attracted into houses by 

 bright light. In Europe such insects are very abundant and 

 prove sometimes injurious, especially to ripe fruit and to 

 flowers in greenhouses. They are strictly vegetable feeders 

 and are very fond of such sweet material as ripe fruit and 

 the corollas of flowers, etc. When abundant theyarecaught 

 below flower-pots and in other hollow objects, as the stems 

 of sun-flowers, into which they crawl to hide during the day. 

 Some people are very much afraid of such little insects ; they 

 believe that they will enter the ears and cause them all 

 sorts of serious trouble. Of course such notions are non- 

 sensical, and the insect, notwithstanding its formidable ap- 

 pearance, lacks the power of doing such harm; it may 

 simply enter an ear as the first dark shelter that offers, if it 

 is dislodged from its hiding place. 



