2o8 



ORTHOPTERA 



CHAP. 



I 



is exposed and the other part concealed, and the exposed portion 

 is totally different in colour and texture from the concealed 

 portion. 



The wings of earwigs are attached to the body in a very 

 unusual manner ; . each wing is continued 

 inwards on the upper surface of the 

 metanotum, as if it were a layer of the 

 integument meeting its fellow on the 

 mesial line ; the point of contact forming 

 two angles just behind the metanotum. 



Some WTiters have considered that the 

 tegmina of earwigs are not the homologues 

 of those of other Orthoptera, but are really 

 tegulae (cf. Fig. 56, p. 103). We are not 

 aware that any direct evidence has been 

 produced in support of this view. 



The -pair of forceps with which the 

 body is armed at its extremity forms 

 another character almost peculiar to the 

 earwigs, but which exists in the genus 

 Jajpyx of the Thysanura. These forceps 

 vary much in the different genera of the 

 family ; they sometimes attain a large size 

 and assume very extraordinary and dis- 

 torted shapes. They are occasionally used 

 by the Insects as a means of completing the process of packing 

 up the wings, but in many species it is not probable that they 

 can be used for this purpose, because their great size and peculiarly 

 distorted forms render them unsuitable for assisting in a delicate 

 process of arrangement ; they are, too, always present in the wingless 

 forms of the family. Their importance to the creature is at 

 present quite obscure ; we can only compare them with the 

 horns of Lamellicorn Coleoptera, which have hitherto proved 

 inexplicable so far as utility is concerned. No doubt the 

 callipers of the earwigs give them an imposing appearance, and 

 may be of some little advantage on this account ; they are not 

 known to be used as offensive instruments for fighting, but they 

 are occasionally brought into play for purposes of defence, the 

 creatures using them for the infliction of nips, which, however, 

 are by no means of a formidable character. 



Fig. 108. A nechura scdbrius- 

 cula. Himalaya. A, Out- 

 line of the Insect ; B, 

 tegmina, t, and tips of 

 wings, w, showing their 

 similar sculpture. 



