!36 NATURAL HISTORY. 



by her own labour. She afterwards watches over them with great solicitude, collecting them together 

 if accidentally scattered, and moving them from place to place so as to keep them in favourable 

 conditions as to moisture, &c., although there does not seem to be any foundation for the belief that 

 she actually incubates them after the fashion of a bird. Even after the young are hatched the 

 mother does not desert them, and the little creatures are described as taking refuge under the body of 

 their mother, like chickens under a hen. 



The species of Earwigs, which are generally of a yellowish, or lighter or darker brown colour, 

 are tolerably numerous, and widely distributed over the surface of the earth. The tropical regions can 

 hardly claim the same predominance over more temperate climates as regards either the number or 

 the size of the species that we have seen in other families. The largest European species (Forficesila 

 gigantea), which is an inhabitant of some parts of England, measures about an inch in length of body. 

 and these dimensions are not greatly surpassed by the exotic species, although some of the latter 

 display much longer forceps than this insect can boast. The Common Earwig (Forfaula auricularia) 

 is found not only in Britain but all over Europe, and apparently throughout most of the Eastern 

 Hemisphere, whether native or as an introduced species it is impossible to say. Another British 

 species, the Little Earwig (Labia minor), is also of very wide distribution on the European continent, 

 and is said to occur in North America. This insect frequents manure heaps and hot-beds. It often 

 flies in the afternoon in hot weather, like the little Brachelytrous Beetles with which it is found 

 associated. The apterous species forming the genus Chelidura, in which the wings are altogether 

 wanting and the tegmina also are rudimentary, are chiefly inhabitants of the mountainous parts of 

 southern Europe. 



SUB-ORDER II. PSEUDONEUROPTERA. 



In this second sub-order we group together a series of insects which present greater divergence 

 of character than those referred to the Orthoptera Genuina they are, in fact, the forms which 

 used to be placed among the Neuroptera, but which have been separated from that group in 

 consequence of the imperfect nature of their metamorphosis. As in the Neuroptera, however, the 

 wings, when present, are of a membranous texture, and generally traversed by reticulated veins, 

 and hence the name Pseudoneuroptera, though not a good one, is to some extent appropriate. In 

 the structure of the mouth, in the very general presence of jointed styles or filaments at the extremity 

 of the abdomen, as in the character of the metamorphosis, these insects certainly approach the true 

 Orthoptera, and their first group is in many respects nearly allied to the Cockroaches. 



TRIBE SOCIALIA. 



This first tribe of the Pseudoneuroptera, as already stated in the table (p. 121), is distinguished by 

 having four equal membranous wings, in which, however, the costal and subcostal veins running along 

 the anterior margin are horny, and the space between them usually thickened and opaque, while the 

 hinder, membranous part of the wing is traversed by finer veins, branching from the longitudinal veins 

 that spring from the base of the wing, but rarely shows any cross- veins. These insects are further 

 remarkable from their living in societies, composed of individuals of very different forms, all of 

 which seem to take part in the business of the community, a condition of things which has given 

 origin to the name of White Ants commonly applied to them. They form only a single family. 



FAMILY VITI.-TERMITIDJ3, OR WHITE ANTS. 



In this remarkable family of insects, the head projects freely in front of the prothorax, and 

 bears a pair of beaded antennae of from thirteen to twenty joints, two rounded eyes, and two ocelli. 

 The three segments of the thorax are nearly equal in size, and very similar in form ; the legs are 

 simple, and terminate in four-jointed tarsi ; and the abdomen, which has only a pair of very minute, 

 two-jointed apical styles, is composed of nine distinct segments. The general characters of the wings, 

 which are usually much longer than the body, have already been indicated ; these organs are deciduous, 

 falling off, or being pulled off by the insects themselves, after the performance of the so-called 

 nuptial flight. The alliance to the Blattidae is recognisable in various parts of the insects, but 

 especially in the structure of the mouth, in which the labium very distinctly shows the Orthopterous 

 character, and the galea, or outer lobe of the maxillae, is a particularly large and important piece. 



