264 THE COMMON EARWIG. 



whence the first folds proceeded. By this means the 

 wing is reduced into a small compass, and propor- 

 tioned to the size of the case under which it is to lie. 

 It is a circumstance extremely singular that, un- 

 like thos^ of most others of the insect tribe, the 

 eggs are hatched, and the young earwigs fostered 

 by the parent. At the beginning of the month of 

 June, M. de Geer found under a stone a female 

 Earwig, accompanied by many little insects, which 

 evidently appeared to be her own young. They con- 

 tinued close to her, and often placed themselves un- 

 der her belly as chickens do under a hen. He put 

 the whole into a box of fresh earth : they did not 

 enter the earth, but it was pleasing to observe how 

 they thrust themselves under the belly, and between 

 the legs ot the mother, who remained very quiet, 

 and suffered them to continue there sometimes for 

 an hour or two together. To feed them, this gen- 

 tleman gave them a piece of a very ripe apple ; in 

 an instant the old one ran upon it, and ate with a 

 good appetite ; the young ones also seemed to eat 

 a little, but apparently with much less relish. On 

 the eighth of June he remarked that the young 

 Earwigs had changed their skins, and he found 

 also the sloughs that they had quitted. This moult- 

 ing produced only a slight change in their figure, 

 yet it evidently brought them nearer to the perfect 

 insect. 



At another time, about the beginning of April, he 

 found a female Earwig under some stones, placed 

 over a heap of eggs, of which she took all the care 

 imaginable without ever forsaking them. He took 



