158 Mr. J. O. Westwood on the Earwig. 



other vegetable substances. It does not indeed appear to be na- 

 turally carnivorous, though if kept without proper nourishment it 

 U'ill, like many other animals, occasionally attack and devour even 

 its own species. Sometimes also it appears in vast numbers, indeed 

 it is noted in the Historical Chronicle of the Gentleman's Maga- 

 zine, on the 19th Aug. 1755, under the head of " Stroud," that at 

 that time there were such quantities of earwigs in that vicinity that 

 they destroyed not only the flowers and fruits, but the cabbages 

 were they ever so large. The houses, especially the old wooden 

 buildings were swarming with them. The cracks and crevices were 

 surprisingly full, they dropped out in such multitudes that the floors 

 were covered ; the linen, of which they are very fond, was likewise 

 full, as was also the furniture, and it was with caution that people 

 eat their provisions, for the cupboards and safes were plentifully 

 stocked with the disagreeable intruders. 



These circumstances, together with the not very gainly appear- 

 ance of the insect, and united with the supjiosition that it creeps 

 into the ears of sleeping persons, have rendered the earwig one of 

 the most despised and abhorred amongst insects ; although from the 

 impossibility of any mischief arising (beyond fright) in case it 

 should happen to attempt to enter the ear, as well as from the inter- 

 esting circumstances which have been observed by diff'erent authors 

 relative to the maternal solicitude of the females towards their eggs 

 and young, this comparatively harmless insect is not less worthy of 

 attention than many of its more showy brethren. 



But it is in the organization of the earwig that we find the most 

 striking pecvdiarities. Thus we may in the first place notice the 

 very beautiful structure of the wings, which although exhibiting a 

 most elegant disposition of nerv'ures when expanded, are capable of 

 being folded up into a very small space so as to be nearly concealed 

 by the minute tegmina. 



But the whole structure of the insect is so peculiar that ento- 

 mologists are not yet decided as to the order to which it belongs. 

 The early authors considered it coleopterous, more recent ones 

 orthopterous, and others, including some of the most celebrated 

 entomologists — De Geer, Kirby, MacLeay, Leach, and Dufour — 

 consider it as the type of a distinct order. Into the question of the 

 situation of these insects I forbear to enter in this place, since my 

 chief object in calling attention to this group is to detail some remark- 

 able peculiarities of structure hitherto unnoticed by the distin- 

 guished authors who have treated at length upon this subject *. 



* With the exception of Messrs. Gene (Saggio da una Monografia di Forficule) 



