270 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY chap. 



owing to a superstition, for which no foundation of fact is 

 forthcoming, that they are given to entering the ears of 

 people when asleep, and damaging the drum. No one as 

 yet seems to have discovered the source of this superstition, 

 which is found in many countries. It is suggested that 

 the association of this insect with an ear is due to the 

 form of the expanded wing, which is said to recall that of 

 a human ear ; but the wing is so rarely seen expanded, that 

 this connection does not seem a very probable explanation 

 of the name. 



Earwigs are much smaller than cockroaches. 



Form ^'^^ *^®y have a relatively longer and narrower 



body, and are always easily recognised by the 



Fig. 201. — The Common Earwig (male) {Forjicula amicularia). 

 B, With wings closed ; t, tegmen or wing-cover ; m, part of the second wing projecting 

 beyond the tegmen ; A, with wings widespread, showing the diiferent parts of 

 the second pair of wings. 



curious pair of nippers or pincers present at the end of the 

 body, which are larger and more sharply curved in the male 

 than in the female. These may perhaps correspond to the 

 " cerci auales " of cockroaches. 



The head bears long antennae and large compound eyes, 

 but no simple eyes, and the first segment is freely movable 

 independently of the rest of the thorax — in all these three 

 points the earwig resembles the cockroach. The head is, 

 however, carried forward, instead of being bent down as in 

 Blattidae. The thorax in the adult bears two pairs of wings, 

 the hind wings being folded in a very complex way, so that 

 they are covered when at rest by the front wing-covers 



