THE EARWIG 175 



four long wings is stiffened along the front margin by stout 

 veins, while the more flexible hind part is supported by a 

 closer and more delicate network. The powerful wings, the 

 large thorax, which contains the muscles of flight, the great 

 compound eyes, and the piercing jaws betoken a swift and 

 rapacious insect. If we open the jaws of a captured dragon-fly, 

 and examine the half-masticated flies which fill the mouth, we 

 can form some notion of its powers as a hunter. Dragon-flies 

 seek their prey in full daylight, when the flies on which they 

 mostly feed are hovering or darting to and fro in the sunshine. 



The eggs are laid in water, and the female, sometimes 

 accompanied by the male, has been known to enter the water, 

 and to attach the eggs to submerged plants. The procedure 

 varies, however, in the different species. 



Dragon-flies are commonly placed among Orthoptera, or in 

 a separate order, not far removed from Orthoptera. Their 

 position is supposed to be approximately determined by the 

 biting mouth-parts and the want of a resting-stage. They 

 seem to constitute a very isolated group, without marked 

 affinity to any other order of insects. 



36. THREE COMMON ORTHOPTEROUS INSECTS 



A short account of three very common domestic species, 

 the earwig, the cockroach, and the house-cricket, will serve 

 to illustrate some of the chief peculiarities of the order 

 Orthoptera. If the reader can make acquaintance with 

 the grasshopper and the rather uncommon mole-cricket, and 

 if he can further learn something about a mantis and a stick 

 insect, he will gain a fair notion of the primary Orthopterous 

 types. 



THE EARWIG (Fofficula aurkularia) 



Though hated by flower gardeners, the earwig is not proved 

 to be truly a pest. It often lurks in flowers and fruits, and 

 annoys timid, persons by dropping out unexpectedly, but the 

 trifling injuries which it may occasionally inflict upon petals 

 or fruits are probably at least compensated by its dis- 

 couragement of more mischievous insects, such as thrips 

 and small larvse. 



The head and mouth-parts of an earwig are altogether 



