102 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS, 



incubation of birds, though we have the high authority 

 of Fabricius, that ' insects never sit upon tlieir eggs.'* 

 Upon the incontestable statements of two distin- 

 guished observers of insects, Frisch^f and De Geer, 

 the female of the common earwig [Forjicida auricula- 

 ria, Linn.) sits upon her eggs. This circumstance, 

 however, seems to have escaped the notice of other 

 naturalists, though her attentions to her young ones 

 is often witnessed. De Geer discovered a female ear- 

 wig in the beginning of April under some stones, and 

 brooding over a number of eggs, of whose safety she 

 appeared to be not a little jealous. In order to study 

 her proceedings the better, he placed her in a nurse- 

 box filled with fresh earth, and scattered the eggs in 

 it at random. She was not long, however, in collect- 

 ing them with all care into one spot, carrying them 

 one by one in her mandibles, and placing her^t if over 

 them. She never lelt them for a moment, sitting as 

 assiduously as a bird does while hatching. In about 

 five or six weeks the grubs were hatched, and were 

 then of a whitish colour. J At another time, in the 

 beginning of June, De Geer found under a stone a 

 female earwig accompanied with a numerous brood of 

 young, to all appearance newly hatched, and nestling 

 under their mother like chickens under a hen. These 

 he likewise placed in a nurse-box with fresh earth ; 

 but instead of burrowing into the mould, as he had 

 expected, they crowded under the bosom and between 

 the legs of their mother, who remained quiet and evi- 

 dently pleased, suffering them to continue there for 

 an hour or more at a time. He fed both this brood 

 and the one first mentioned with bits of ripe apple ; 

 and perceived that they grew from day to day, a;id 



* Fabricius, Philosoph. Entomol. Ixxvi. 

 t Insecten in DeutscbJand, 4to, 1766. 

 t De Geer, Mem., vol. iii, p. 648. 



