152 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



great an extent, that it is said 10,000 have been offered 

 for its destruction. 



DEKMAPTERA. FORFICULID^J. 

 FORFICULA. 



Generic Distinctions. Antenna filiform, of twelve or thirteen 

 joints ; palpi filiform ; tarsi three-jointed ; wings like a fan, and 

 folded under two short elytra; body terminated by two scaly 

 pieces forming a pincer. 



FOKFICULA AURICULARIA, the Earwig ', has the body long, 

 and of a reddish-brown, the eyes black, the thorax dark in 

 the middle, and the sides yellowish, forceps yellowish-brown. 

 Despised and disliked as are these harmless insects, owing 

 to the generally received opinion (false as it is) of their 

 creeping through the ear into the head, they are interesting 

 on many accounts. Usually, the care taken by female 

 insects in constructing nests for the reception of their 

 young, appears more decidedly than in other animals the 

 result of mere instinct, as the parent dies long before the 

 birth of the young larvae ; but this is not the case with the 

 Earwig, which seems gifted with something approaching to 

 the maternal attachment evinced by the higher orders of 



