io8 BEETLES, GRASSHOPPERS, ETC. 



The earwigs are also extremely disagree- 

 able, although all that is said about them is 

 not true. It is not quite certain that we 

 should include them in this Order. Their 

 position has been changed more than once. 

 Linnaeus regarded them as beetles; some 

 naturalists would set them apart in an Order 

 by themselves ; others assign them a place 

 among the Orthoptera. The mantis and the 

 stick- and leaf-insects of foreign countries, the 

 crickets and grasshoppers of our own land, 

 are all well-known members of the group. If 

 the Order has been somewhat neglected by 

 amateurs, the reason for such neglect cannot 

 be unfamiliarity with the species compre- 

 hended within it. These fall conveniently 

 into three groups according to their mode 

 of progression those which run ( Cursoria) ; 

 those which walk (Gressoria) \ and those 

 which leap (Saltatoria). 



The Common Earwig (Forficula auricu- 

 laria), Plate IX., Fig. 2, needs no descrip- 

 tion. Any one may get a specimen in a few 

 minutes. In feeds on decaying vegetable 

 matter, and is most active at night. The 

 origin of the name has been much discussed. 



