THE SACRIFICE OF WINGS 305 



is so startling in the butterflies and moths. From the egg 

 which the mother earwig hatches almost like a bird is pro- 

 duced not a grub, but apparently a creature of the same 

 general pattern as its parents ; but the wings are missing. 

 It grows like many creatures like the spider or the wood- 

 louse by successive moults, and the wings appear only at 

 the end. These moults may be said roughly to correspond to 

 that slow unseen development when it has passed from the 

 grub stage to the pupa stage. We see in this insect as a pro- 

 cess what appears in the butterflies a sudden transformation. 



The peculiarity of the wing of the earwig lies in its fold- 

 ing capacity. It resembles a little in this some of the beetles 

 and the ladybird ; but it excels them all in complication and 

 neatness. One may not seldom find a beetle in trouble with 

 its wing. The diaphanous hinder wing refuses to be pulled 

 under the hard forward wing or case, and there is a struggle 

 in the packing. The earwig's wing is rather like one of 

 those old-fashioned circular fans which were pulled out and 

 into a hollow case. The ribs and tucks are elaborate and 

 well marked ; and are not contracted into their narrow space 

 solely by one reflex action. As a rule, probably always, the 

 earwig turns up the tail backward and uses the two pincers 

 curved in the male, and nearly straight in the female to 

 tuck the last folds under the case and along the back. 



Of many insects it is true that they only appear beautiful 

 when our eyes are helped by the microscope ; but the earwig, 

 which is usually regarded as ugly, if not abhorrent, is large 

 enough to disclose its beauties to the naked eye if we look 

 close. The antennae are then seen to be of a complicated 

 beauty; and it is worth a long watch to see the creeping 

 thing open and close its silver wings when the dusk of a 

 summer evening, which is the creature's high noon, tempts 

 to their use. 



