156 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[July 1, 1897. 



creatures make short flights. In wheatfields the devil's 

 coach-horse beetles are very plentiful, as most farmers 

 know who notice such things. They lay their eggs in 

 the ground, hollowing out a cavity for the purpose, and 

 the lana keep under ground, but come up during the 

 night ; they are exceedingly fond of worms. Fig. 7 

 represents the creature in flight, the wings being very 

 beautiful and large. Many ordinary observers would 

 never imagine or believe it possible for such wings to be 

 folded up and put away underneath the small wing cases. 

 ^Yhen the wings are more than half folded, the ends are 

 tucked in by the spines of the tail, which is turned up for 

 this purpose. Many insects use their abdomen to help in 

 this delicate operation. Fig. 8 shows the mouth organs 

 of the devil's coach-horse beetle ; the powerful mandibles 

 and more delicate and exquisitely beautiful "brushes and 

 combs " which are kept so marvellously clean. 



To some, a rubbish heap may not appear a pleasant 

 place in and upon which to search for insects, but one of 

 the greatest marvels of all minute insects is found in such 

 a place. Underneath an old half-rotten board, soaking 

 with moisture — one that has been on the rubbish heap for 

 weeks — is a perfect Elysium for an insect hunter who wants 

 to find something wonderful. Under such a board I have 

 found endless prizes : several species of those curious 

 ClieUfers, or pseudo-scorpions — small creatures with crab- 

 like claws and crab-like movements, for, touched on the 

 head, they shoot backwards, and are very diflScult to get 

 into a phial. 



Many species of Podura, or "spring-tails," are very 

 common ; and Tomocerus plumbeics,\o6king\ike a little atom 



FiQ. 11. — Earwig. Wings lialf closed. 



of polished blacklead, and the still smaller and more 

 beautiful Seira Buskii, are to be found, and occasionally 

 the rarer Lepidocyrtus curricollis, whose scales are highly 

 prized by microscopists for testing their objectives. 



The greatest prize of the rubbish heap is an almost 

 microscopic beetle — Trichoptiry.r otomaria by name. It is 

 about one-thirty-second of an inch in length, of the 

 ordinary beetle form, with hard wing cases ; but imder- 

 neath these horny coverings are the most marvellously 

 formed wings which it is possible to conceive. The base, or 

 peduncle, is a mere bristle, which gently widens into some- 

 what of a paddle shape. From each side there spring long 

 hairs packed close together, then a small space where they 



are not so thick, another paddle which is also fringed 

 with still longer hairs, which radiate from the tip in the 

 most exact order — and yet this complicated structure is 

 folded up in four turns ! Every hair is so arranged that 

 not one is broken or displaced — it is a wing that fairly 

 fascinates one. And this creature is found on a rubbish 

 heap ! 



Is any garden ever free from earwigs ? I am afraid not ; 

 but I am equally sure that not one out of a thousand 

 gardeners would say a good word for this destructive 

 insect. The name should be "earwing," from the shape 

 of the wing, which is so much like the human ear — but 

 how many people even know that an earwig has wings '? 

 Let us look at Fig. 9, which represents them closed, and 



Fig. 12. — Earwig. Wings three-quarters closed. 



then at the same insect with its wings wide open (Fig. 10), 

 and I don't think I am wrong in singing the praises of this 

 most delicate structure, perfect in form and method of 

 folding up. Figs. 11 and 12 wiU give some idea of how this 

 pleating is arranged, and how the tail is turned up and 

 gives the finishing touches — or pushes to the ends of the 

 wings. I have watched the small earwig. Labia minor 

 (which flies in the sunshine), folding and xmfolding its 

 wings, and, with its forceps, so manipulating the wings 

 that they seem to vanish as by magic and are never torn. 



In conclusion of my somewhat incomplete account of 

 " The Insects of a London Back-Garden," I feel I must say 

 a kind word for the much-abused earwig, which, besides 

 eating buds of chrysanthemums, phloxes, and all else, also 

 eats vast numbers of eggs of Lepidoptera. 



It is of its maternal affection for its young, however, 

 that I would speak. After carefully excavating a cavity in 

 the earth, it lays a number of whitish eggs, and " sits" 

 upon them until hatched, and then broods over its brood 

 of milk-white young with the utmost concern. Should 

 the rough hand of a gardener upset the little family, it 

 searches for the eggs or little ones with the greatest 

 solicitude, and manages to recover all it can, and convey 

 them to a place of safety. 



The insects of a London back-garden will always 

 repay careful study ; and if flowers will not grow, insects 

 do, and of endless variety of form and structure. There 

 are insect treasures to be found under any old musty 

 board, an odd brick end, or a heap of leaves. The seeker 

 after such need never be idle in a London back-garden. 



