30 The Microscope. 



CHAPTER IV. 



[HE prettily-rounded wing occupying a central 

 position (fig. 2) at the top of Plate II., is 

 that of an earwig. If you feel surprised, 

 reader, to hear that this rather unpopular creature 

 possesses a pair of lovely rainbow-tinted wings, I must 

 tell you that iny wonder was at least equal to yours 

 when I first succeeded in spreading them out, as in 

 fig. 3. But, in fact, there are few insects without 

 wings. The wings of moths and butterflies, of flies, 

 bees, and wasps, and of the dragon-flies, so common 

 every summer, are easily seen ; but an almost equal 

 variety of insects possess concealed wings, folded up 

 beneath wing cases. And these wings are generally 

 very beautiful and delicate, often showing rainbow 

 colours just as a soap bubble does, in consequence of 

 their extreme thinness ; yet so well are they protected 

 by the wing cases that they remain uninjured while 

 their owner plunges into water, or gropes his way 

 through the ground. Observe into how small a com- 

 pass the delicate wing of the earwig can fold. Fig. 

 1, , represents it when fully opened. At fig. 2, 6, 

 you see it closing like a fan. Fig. c shows the two 



