286 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
some are probably scavengers. No Earwigs are known to be 
trulj^ aquatic but many live in damp places and some species die 
quickly if deprived of moisture. 
The mother Earwig in taking care of her eggs and young shows 
an attachment rarely exhibited by insects. Thus DeGeer' says: 
"At the commencement of June I found under a stone a female 
Earwig accompanied by its young. I placed them in a sand-box 
where I had put a little fresh earth, and it was curious to see how 
they ran under the stomach and between the legs of the mother, 
who remained very quiet and allowed them to do it : she seemed to 
cover them as a hen does her little chicks, and they remained 
often in this position for hours. The insects of this genus have 
then, in a kind of manner, care for their young, even after their 
birth; and they seem to wish to protect them by remaining near 
them. 
"Another time, I found a pile of eggs on which the mother was 
seated and of which she took the greatest care imaginable with- 
out ever moving a step away. I took it with its eggs and placed 
it in a sand-box half filled with fresh earth, in such a fashion that 
the eggs were scattered here and there : but soon the mother took 
the eggs one after the other between her jaws and transported 
them. After several days I noticed she had got them all together 
in a like place on the surface of the earth and there she remained 
constantly seated on them in such a manner that she seemed to 
cover them." 
Our species are few in number, of such inconspicuous habits and 
local occurrence that observations have rarely been made upon 
them, and relatively little is definitely known concerning their 
life histories, seasons, and habits in particular. One of the best 
papers dealing with a New England species is that by Bennett 
(Psyche, vol. 11, p. 47-53, June 1903) relating his observations on 
the habits of the Maritime Earwig at Cold Spring Harbor and in 
captivity (see p. 290). Probably all of our species could be reared 
in confinement with little difficulty. The European Earwig also, 
a recent immigrant of local occurrence, has been studied by gov- 
ernment specialists (U. S. Dept. Agric, Bull. 566, p. 1-12). 
The student of this order should read the introduction of 
Burr's Dermaptera in the Fauna of British India (1910). There 
' Quoted from Burr, in Fauna of British India. 
I 
