138 



FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



Some insects have wings, and some have none ; 

 but among insects with none, we may distinguish 

 two classes : those whose progenitors could fly, 

 but who have themselves degenerated so as to 

 become wingless ; and those who never had wings 

 at all, but represent the primitive non-flying an- 

 cestor. Several 

 of these early 

 wingless types 

 still persist to 

 the present day ; 

 and they very 

 closely resemble 

 the young of 

 the earwigs. 

 They have a 

 head with a 

 couple of wav- 

 ing antennae ; 

 they have a body 

 of three seg- 

 ments, each of 

 which bears a 



pair of legs, but no wings ; they have a long, 

 jointed abdomen ; and at its end they have two 

 appendages, which, though not specialised into 

 pincers, distinctly suggest the forceps of the earwig. 

 Indeed, if the baby earwigs always remained in 

 their first larval stage, we might easily mistake 

 them for some of these primitive wingless crea- 

 tures. No. 19 is a rough sketch of such an early 

 type of non-flying insect, by name Campodea. 



NO. IJ. THE USE OF THE PINCERS. 



