PINCERS OF EARWIG. 261 



The Earwig is too familiar to need much description, but I 

 may as well state that its pincers are not primarily intended as 

 weapons, although they can be so used on occasion. (I was 

 about to say, at a pinch, but refrain.) They resemble our ordi- 

 nary pincers in that both blades move equally, and they are so 

 completely under the control of their owner, that the insect 

 uses them with a delicacy of touch that a lady's fingers could 

 hardly surpass. They are really tools, and not weapons, and 

 are employed for the purpose of folding the wide and delicate 

 wings under the tiny elytra. 



There is another insect called the Scorpion -fly (Panorpa), 

 the male of which is furnished with a pair of pincers at the 

 end of a long and flexible tail, articulated just like the tail of a 

 scorpion, and moved in exactly the same manner. It is but a 

 little insect, but its gestures are so menacing as it flourishes 

 its tail about, that non-entomologists may well be pardoned for 

 being afraid of it. Moreover, small as are the pincers, they 

 really can give a smart nip, and make themselves felt on the 

 human skin. 



If we want examples of exceedingly powerful pincers, we 

 need only go to the Lobsters and Crabs, especially to the 

 latter, whose claws are often of enormous thickness in propor- 

 tion to the size of the animal. All those who have visited the 

 seaside know how severe is the pinch of the common Gfreen 

 Crab, comparatively small though it be, and the same may be said 

 of the river crayfish, which is, in fact, a lobster in miniature. 



As to the lobster itself, fishermen are so well acquainted with 

 the power of its claws, that they tie them together with string 

 as soon as the animal is caught. Formerly they used to 

 "peg" them, i.e. drive a wooden peg into the joint so as to 

 prevent it from moving. This custom, however, is now pro- 

 hibited by law on account of its cruelty. 



The power of the Crab's claws is so great that a bite from a 

 large Crab will inflict a severe injury, and render a hand help- 

 less. It has more than once happened that men who have been 

 feeling for Crabs in the recesses of the rocks at low water have 

 been seized, and seriously imperilled, not being able to release 

 themselves from the gripe. 



Indeed, it is said that there have been instances where the 



