478 EAKWIGS. 



All the Chrysomelidse are round-bodied, and in most cases are very brilliantly 

 coloured with shining green, purple, blue and gold, of a peculiar but indescribable lustre. 

 They are slow walkers, but grasp the leaves with a wonderfully firm hold. The British 

 species of Chrysomela are very numerous. One of the genera belonging to this family 

 contains the largest British specimen of these beetles, commonly known by the name of 

 the BLOODY-NOSE BEETLE (Timarcha tenebricosa) on account of the bright red fluid which 

 it ejects from its mouth and the joints of its legs when it is alarmed. This fluid is held 

 by many persons to be a specific in case of toothache. It is applied by means of 

 permitting the insect to emit the fluid on the finger and then rubbing it on the gum, and 

 the effects are said to endure for several days. The larva of this beetle is a fat-bodied, 

 shining, dark green grub which may be found clinging to grass, moss, or hedgerows in 

 the early summer. They are so like the perfect insect that their identity cannot be 

 doubted. 



THE fan-ily of the Coccinellidae, or Ladybirds, is allied to the Chiysomelidae, and 

 is well known on account of the pretty little spotted insects with which we have been 

 familiar from our childhood. Though the LADYBIED is too well known to need 

 description, it may be mentioned that it is an extremely useful insect, feeding while 

 in the larval state on the aphides that swarm on so many of our favourite plants and 

 shrubs. The mother Ladybird always takes care to deposit the eggs in spots where the 

 apbides most swarm, and so secure an abundant supply of food for the future offspring. 



EARWIGS. 



TAKING leave of the beetles, we now proceed to a fresh order, distinguished by several 

 simple characteristics, among which may be mentioned the soft and leathery elytra or 

 fore-wings, the wide and membranous hind-wings, and the forceps with which the tail is 

 armed. The insects belonging to this order are popularly known by the name of Earwigs, 

 and are represented in this country by several species of different dimensions. 



Before proceeding to the description of individual species, it is necessary to remark 

 that the word Earwig is slightly incorrect, and owing to a popular notion that the insects 

 crawl into the human ear, thence into the brain, and complete their work by causing 

 madness in the minds of those who are afflicted by their presence. 



The fact is, as all must know who have the least smattering of anatomy, that the 

 insect never could gain admission to the brain by means of the ear. In the first place 

 the cerumen which is secreted in the ear and serves to preserve the natural moisture of 

 the tissues, is so inexpressibly bitter, and so entirely opposed to the habits of the Earwig, 

 that if one of these insects should by chance happen to crawl into the ear, its first impulse 

 would be to retreat. In the second place, the drum of the ear would present an impassable 

 obstacle, and in the third place, supposing the drum to have been ruptured, and the Ear- 

 wig to have passed the spot where it existed, the complicated bony passages through 

 which the auditory nerve passes would be too small to admit of its passage, even if the 

 nerves which fill the channels were removed. 



In point of fact, the correct name of this insect is the Earwing, so called because its 

 spread wings have an outline somewhat resembling that of the human ear. 



The membranous wings of the Earwig are truly beautiful. They are thin and 

 delicate to a degree, very large and rounded, and during the day-time packed in the most 

 admirable manner under the little square elytra. The process of packing is very 

 beautiful, being greatly assisted by the forceps on the tail, which are directed by the 



