JUNE. 153 



creation, not only in taking great care of her eggs, but in 

 brooding over them like a hen, and collecting them when 

 scattered about. The young ones differ only from the 

 parent in their small size, and the want of wings and elytra, 

 which make their appearance in the pupa state ; the wings 

 are particularly beautiful, not only for the delicacy of their 

 structure, but from the singularity of the nervures. Ought 

 we then to feel contempt or dislike for an inoffensive little 

 creature, the peculiarities in whose habits and structure 

 testify that the hand of Omnipotence has been engaged 

 in its construction ? Why should it thus differ, unless to 

 excite our attention and reward our research ? The old 

 naturalist Mouffet gives an amusing account of the destruc- 

 tive habits of the Earwig, which, though perfectly harmless 

 to our persons, is mischievous in our gardens. " The 

 English women," he says, " hate them exceedingly, because 

 of the flowers of clove-gilliflower that they eat and spoil, 

 and they set snares for them thus : they set in the most 

 void places ox hoofs, hogs' hoofs, or old cast things that 

 are hollow, upon a staff fastened into the ground, and these 

 are easily stuffed with straw ; and when by night the savages 

 creep into them to avoid the rain, or hide themselves in the 

 morning, these old cast things being shook, forth a great 



