CHAPTER VI. 



INSECTS. EARWIGS, COCKROACHES, CRICKETS, 

 GRASSHOPPERS AND LOCUSTS. 



PASSING lightly over the next Order of Insects,* 

 which includes the Earwigs, only two species of which 

 we are familiar with, the Forficula auricularia and the 

 Labia minor, the latter swarming on the wing in the 

 vicinity of dung-heaps on every sunny day in spring, 

 in early summer and in autumn, we come to the 

 Cockroaches, Crickets, Grasshoppers and Locusts.f 



Blatta Orientalis is the domestic nuisance so gene- 

 rally and so abundantly represented in our dwelling- 

 houses, that no description of it need be attempted 

 here. One peculiarity of this insect, which has long 

 been known to Entomologists, may, however, have 

 escaped the notice of those who view the family with 

 too much disgust to study their habits with any higher 

 object than that of lessening their numbers, and that 

 is its mode of oviposition. The eggs are not dropped 

 singly, or attached to any particular substance fitted 

 for the food of the young as soon as they are hatched ; 

 they are, on the contrary, enclosed in a gradually- 

 secreted capsule, of a horny character and an oblong 

 or nearly oval shape, having a slit extending from end 

 to end on one side. This slit is at first soldered up by 

 a glutinous substance, which the young are enabled to 



Order DERMAPTERA. From the Greek derma, a skin, and 

 pteron, a wing. Wings, four ; the upper ones (Elytra) coriaceous 

 without veins. 



f Order ORTHOPTERA. From the Greek orthos, straight, and 

 pteron, a wing. Wings, four ; the upper ones (Tegmina) parch- 

 ment-like and veined. 



