NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Usual mode of catching earwigs. 



to be to lattend the garden now and then in the 

 night, and to seize them while they are feeding. 

 The usual mode of catching them is by sticking 

 the bowl of a tobacco-pipe, and the claws of lob- 

 sters upon sticks that support flowers, as, in the 

 day-time, they creep into holes and dark places. 

 Placing hollow reeds behind the twigs of wall- 

 trees is also a good mode, if they be examined 

 and cleared every morning. 



This insect has been supposed capable of in- 

 troducing itself into the ear> and from thence 

 penetrating into the brain, and occasioning death. 

 This is looked upon as an idle notion by the Rev. 

 Mr. Bingley ; any insect, however, a fly, flea, 

 &c. may, by chance, enter the ear, but will also 

 be desirous of getting out again: thus, if a per- 

 son be lying down in a field, garden, &c. an ear- 

 wig may likewise go into the ear and become 

 troublesome. Such circumstance has happened 

 to the editor's knowledge, but was not produc- 

 tive of any ill consequence. 



THE DEATH-WATCH, OR PTINVS, 



IS a dusky or somewhat hairy insect, with 

 irregular brownish spots, about a quarter of an 

 inch in length. Notwithstanding its smallness, 

 this creature is often the cause of serious alarm 

 among the lower class of people, fiom the noise 

 that it makes, at a certain time of the year, re- 



