THOSE HORRID EARWIGS 123 



wings, while the general public never sees them 

 flying. Besides, the German name Ohrwurm, or 

 " ear-worm," and the French Perce-oreille, or 

 " pierce-ear," suffice to show that the myth is not 

 confined to our own country. All over the world 

 this harmless and on the whole beneficent creature 

 (for he is a good scavenger) is regarded with 

 superstitious fear and aversion ; all over the world 

 he is ruthlessly destroyed whenever found ; and 

 modern science alone is the first to attempt the 

 herculean task of rehabilitating him. 



Before you begin to rehabilitate anybody, how- 

 ever, it is first desirable to know something about 

 himself, his family, and his antecedents. I will 

 therefore set out with a brief description of the 

 earwig and his relations. Almost everybody knows 

 well that earwigs are black little creeping insects, 

 which frequent dark spots, avoid the light, and 

 love to take refuge under stones or woodwork. 

 The earwig, in point of fact, is a nocturnal animal. 

 Like the bat and the owl, he hides during the 

 daytime, and only prowls forth at night in 

 search of food and adventures. Plain as he is to 

 outward view, his diet might suit the daintiest of 

 poets, for he lives for the most part on the petals 

 of flowers, on which account he is hated with a 

 deadly hatred by gardeners. But the diet of the 

 race is not wholly floral. Earwigs prefer petals 

 and other soft parts of plants ; but they will put 

 up with leaves or growing shoots, and even feed to 

 a small extent on dead or decaying animal matter. 

 That they are fond of fruit you must have observed 



