THE EARWIG KIND. 



779 



its winged state but a few days ; and having 

 taken care for the continuance of posterity, 

 dries up, and dies to all appearance con- 

 sumptive." 



To this order of insects we may also refer 

 the Cuckow-Spit, or Froth-Worm, that is 

 often found hid in that frothy matter which 

 we find on the surface of plants. It has an 

 oblong obtuse body ; and a large head with 

 small eyes. The external wings, for it has 

 four, are of a dusky brown, marked with two 

 white spots : the head is black. The spume 

 in which it is found wallowing, is all of its 

 own formation, and very much resembles 

 frothy spittle. It proceeds from the vent of 

 the animal, and other parts of the body ; and 

 if it be wiped away, a new quantity will be 

 quickly seen ejected from the little animal's 

 body. Within this spume it is seen in time 

 to acquire four tubercles on its back, where- 

 in the wings are enclosed : these bursting, 

 from a reptile it becomes a winged animal; 

 and thus rendered perfect, it flies to meet its 

 mate, and propagate its kind. 



The Water-Tipula also belongs to this 

 class. It has an oblong slender body, with 

 four feet fixed upon the breast, and four 

 feelers near the mouth. It has four weak 

 Avings, which do not at all seem proper for 

 flying, but leaping only. But what this insect 

 chiefly demands our attention for is, the 

 wonderful lightness wherewith it runs on the 

 surface of the water, so as scarce to put it 

 in motion. It is sometimes seen in rivers, 

 and on their banks, especially under shady 

 trees; and generally in swarms of several 

 together. 



The Common Water-Fly also breeds in the 

 same manner with those above mentioned. 



(a) The indefatigable M. de Goer has discovered that 

 the female earwig sits over her eggs, and fosters her young, 

 in the tame manner as a hen does her chickens. 



NO. 65 & 66. 



This animal is by some called Notonecta, 

 because it does not swim, in the usual man- 

 ner, upon its belly, but on its back : nor can 

 we help admiring that fitness in this insect 

 ! for its situation, as it feeds on the under-side 

 of plants which grow on the surface of the 

 water; and therefore it is thus formed with 

 its month upwards, to take its food with 

 greater convenience and ease. 



We may also add the Water-Scorpion, 

 which is a large insect, being near an inch in 

 length, arid about half an inch in breadth. 

 Its body is nearly oval, but very flat and thin; 

 and its tail long and pointed. The head is 

 small ; and the feelers appear like legs, re- 

 sembling the claws of a scorpion, but without 

 sharp points. This insect is generally found 

 in ponds; and is, of all others, the most 

 tyrannical and rapacious. It destroys, like 

 a wolf among sheep, twenty times as many as 

 its hunger requires. One of these, when put 

 into a basin of water, in which were thirty 

 or forty worms of the libellula kind, each as 

 large as itself, destroyed them all in a few 

 minutes ; getting on their backs, and piercing 

 with its trunk through their body. These 

 animals, however, though so formidable to 

 others, are nevertheless themselves greatly 

 overrun with a little kind of louse, about the 

 size of a nit, which very probably repays the 

 injury which the water-scorpion inflicts upon 

 others. 



The water-scorpions live in the water by 

 day; out of which they rise in the dusk of 

 the evening into the air, and so flying from 

 place to place, often betake themselves, in 

 quest of food, to other waters. The in- 

 sect, before its wings are grown, remains 

 in the place where it was produced; but 

 when come to its state of perfection, sallies 

 forth in search of a companion of the other 

 sex, in order to continue its noxious pos- 

 terity. 





