WINGS OF THE EARWIG. 227 



To display these wings properly is a business of exceeding 

 difficulty, and demands the greatest patience as well as skill. 

 They have to be coaxed from under the tiny elytra with infinite 

 care, and their delicate folds spread one by one lest they should 

 be toru. I have found that a glass tube, drawn to a rather fine 

 point, is exceedingly useful, for the wings can often be blown 

 open by a current of air directed upon them, when the use of 

 a needle would be nearly certain to damage them. Even when 

 they are at last ' teased ' out, it is no easy matter to spread 

 them flat and keep them so while the card braces are being 

 pressed on them, inasmuch as the membrane, though delicate, 

 is very elastic, and has a tendency to contract and crumple up the 

 whole wing into folds, just as it has been nicely and satisfactorily 

 flattened. If any of my readers should be afflicted with hasty 

 tempers and wish to put themselves tlirough a course of disci- 

 pline, I can strongly recommend them to take a few Earwigs 

 and set them with expanded wings, taking care to make both 

 wings look alike. When they have succeeded in doing so 

 without losing temper they may be perfectly easy as to their 

 ability in con(|uering their infirmity. 



The mode in which these large and delicate wings are packed 

 into so small a compass is singularly beautiful. The front 

 margin of the wing, from the base to a sjDot about half-way 

 along it, is rather hard and firm, and at that point is a broad 

 leathery patch which acts as a hinge. From this point the 

 folds of the wing radiate just like those of an open fan : 

 and, at half their length, the edge of each of these folds is 

 strengthened by a small patch of similar leathery material. 



When the wing is to be gathered together under its elytron, 

 the radiating folds are closed exactly like the bars of a fan, 

 and the closed folds are then doubled twice, once at the small 

 and once at the large hinge. If we suppose each of the bars of 

 a fan to have two hinges, so as to divide it into three equal parts, 

 we can understand that it could be folded into a very small com- 

 pass, first by closing the fan longitudinally, and then dovibling 

 it twice crosswise. In consequence of this beautiful piece of 

 mechanism Mr. Westwood proposed the name Euplexoptera 

 for the Earwigs, the name being of Greek origin, and signifying 

 beautifully-folded wings. 



I have mentioned that it is a very difficult task to get the 



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