348 ORDERS OF PTILOTA. 



doners have supplied the place of these ox-hoofs in their trim-kept 

 gardens with the hollow claws of lobsters, which give their bor- 

 ders a very droll appearance. 



As a set-off against the mischievous propensities of these insects, 

 may be mentioned the peculiar and almost unique instance which 

 the females afford of maternal care for their young progeny. In ge- 

 neral, the care taken and the labours undergone by female insects in 

 the construction of nests, are but the result of instinct, the parent 

 dying long before the birth of her progeny ; but in the earwig, the 

 reverse of this takes place. Not only do these females take great 

 care of their eggs, covering them over with their bodies, brooding 

 over them hke a hen, and collecting them with great care when 

 scattered about, but show great affection to the young when hatch- 

 ed. These young ones differ only from their parents in their small 

 size, want of wings and wing-covers, and the slenderness and 

 straightness of the forceps at the extremity of the body. In the pupa 

 state they are equally active, and have the wings and wing-cases dis- 

 tinct, but inclosed in flat sheaths of a small size, applied closely to 

 the back. The attachment existing between the parent and her 

 young is reciprocal ; De Geer having discovered a female in the 

 month of June under a stone sitting upon her progeny, which ap- 

 peared to be just hatched, and which nestled under their parent 

 like chickens under a hen. Having removed this family into a 

 box wdth earth, he observed that, instead of burrowing into the 

 ground as might have been expected, the young ones crowded 

 under the body and between the legs of their parent, who remained 

 quiet, and allowed them to continue in this position for hours to- 

 gether. He fed liis captives with morsels of ripe apple, upon which 

 they thrived, casting their skin several times hke caterpillars. The 

 mother did not live long in confinement, and the young ones had 

 the cannibalism to eat the dead body of their parent. After this 

 the number of the brood diminished, without any remains of the 

 dead bodies being observed : whence it is to be inferred that the 

 survivors had also devoured their dead bodies. This, however, 

 would most probably be occasioned by the want of their proper 

 food, as they never thus prey upon each other in a state of nature. 

 After the final moulting, the wings are expanded to their full size, 

 in which state they are very beautiful objects, not only for their 

 delicate structure, but from the singular direction of the nervures, 

 which are quite unlike those of any other insect. 



There are numerous species of earwigs, six or seven of which are 

 inhabitants of this country, composing the genera Forficula, Apteri- 

 gyda, Labia, and Lahidura. 



