SAMOUELLE S 



in the months of March and April, may be observed, 

 under stones and clumps of earth, sitting on their 

 eggs, and generally the male and female together : 

 they feed on flowers and are often very destructive to 

 pinks and carnations. Both the larva and pupa are 

 active, and resemble the perfect insect, except in 

 wanting the wings. Earwigs are particularly fond 

 of the corolla of the sun-flower, and may be seen in 

 the autumn of the year (generally in pairs) on this 

 noble plant. Few persons are aware that this insect 

 can fly ; but earwigs, their size considered, are fur- 

 nished with very ample and curious wings, the prin- 

 cipal ncrvures of which are so many radii, diverging 

 from a common point near the anterior margin : be- 

 tween these are others which, proceeding from the 

 opposite margin, terminate in the middle of the 

 wing. These organs, when at rest, are more than 

 ouce folded, both transverse and longitudinally. 

 The insects of this Order fly at night : a lady has in- 

 formed me that she was once sitting in her garden, 

 on a summer's evening, when she observed an ear- 

 wig expand its wings and, to her surprise, fly away. 



In the common earwig, the two sexes differ con- 

 siderably in the forceps which terminate the body ; 

 those of the male, figured with the wings expanded, 

 are armed with minute internal teeth at the base and 

 suddenly dilate in the form of a bow ; in the female 

 they are smaller and nearly straight, but cross each 

 other in their termination, and are capable of giving 

 an acute pinch that is, as sharp as the pierce of a 

 needle. (See the forceps of the , female) on the 

 right-hand side of the plate.; So far as I ha 



