278 INSECTS ABROAD 



acknowledge that this last-mentioned arrangement can be correct; 

 and so I shall retain the word Orthoptera as representing the 

 grasshoppers and their kin, and give my readers the choice of 

 Dermaptera or Euplexoptera to represent the Earwigs. 



There is even a difficulty about the popular names of these 

 very plentiful insects. It has been suggested, and with much 

 probability, that the English name " Earwig " ought rightly to 

 be " TOaxwing" because the wings are shaped very much like the 

 human ear. Be this as it may, there is a belief, not only in 

 England but in other countries, that the insect creeps into the 

 ears of sleeping people, and so eats its way into the brain. 

 Anyone who has the slightest acquaintance with the structure 

 of the ear of course detects the utter absurdity of such a notion, 

 but the power of ignorance is so great that this belief prevails 

 in spite of all entomological and anatomical remonstrances. 



How deeply rooted is the idea in this country everyone knows, 

 and how the insect is equally feared and hated. In Germany 

 the same notion prevails, as is evident from the popular name 

 Ohr-wilrm, or Ear-worm ; and it is expressed as strongly as 

 possible in the French Perce-oreille, or Ear-piercer. Such are 

 a few of the discrepancies connected with these insects, and 

 which we need not trouble ourselves to reconcile. We will 

 content ourselves with the usual English name of Earwig, and 

 will follow, as in " Insects at Home," the arrangement which 

 forms them into a separate order under the name of Dermaptera. 



It might reasonably be expected that the exotic Earwigs 

 would infinitely surpass our own insects in size, in number of 

 species, in shape, and in extraordinary habits. Such, however, 

 is not the case, and, like the Water Beetles, which have already 

 been described, the foreign Earwigs are almost exactly similar 

 to our own in size, form, and colour. As to their habits, 

 scarcely anything seems to be known about them, so that we 

 are left to conjecture that as they resemble our own species in 

 form and colour, so they do in their manners and customs. 

 So we may safely conclude that, like the English Earwigs, those 

 of other countries are omnivorous, feeding on the petals of 

 flowers when they can get nothing better, and choosing for their 

 special food the larvae and pupae of solitary bees. 



In the collection of the British Museum are many species, 

 among which there are only three which appear to be worthy of 



