30 TRANSACTIONS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
our attention, these have never received from entomologists the same 
degree of patient research and exhaustive study. 
And what can be said of those interesting insects the ants, whose 
economy is so well known. The Scriptural injunction, “ Go to the 
ant, . . . consider her ways, and be wise,” deserves more con¬ 
sideration than it receives; and the researches and experiments of 
Lubbock and others might be profitably imitated and extended by 
many thinking minds. 
Certainly beetles are and always have been popular with ento¬ 
mologists ; but the sight of a live beetle, however beautiful, usually 
creates in most people a certain amount of repulsiveness; and even 
after the specimen has been securely boxed, and its evident beauties 
pointed out through the glass lid, there is often difficulty in convin¬ 
cing people that the insect is really worth looking at, a process usually 
gone through at a safe distance. 
And so with the Hemiptera—they are despised and their study 
neglected by reason of popular prejudice, simply because they are 
“ bugs.” We have no doubt that if any one would take the trouble 
to examine our collection of these insects, they would be pleasantly 
surprised to find that most of them are far from repulsive in appear¬ 
ance, and that many are exceedingly beautiful. 
Where, too, can we find a better example of widespread prejudice 
than that exhibited towards the common earwig, or “ forky-tail ? ” 
It is universally regarded as a creeping horror by all but an entomo¬ 
logist, to whom, however, it is particularly interesting, having much 
to commend it, notwithstanding its well-known destructiveness to 
plants and fruit. The care of a hen for her chickens is proverbial; 
and here we have a parallel example afforded us by a lowly and 
despised creature. When the female has laid her eggs, she does not 
forsake them, as is the habit of most insects, but sits upon them after 
the manner of a hen until they are hatched. We have repeatedly 
pushed the female from her eggs, and she has as repeatedly and per¬ 
sistently returned to sit upon them ; and when the eggs have been 
scattered, she has again carefully collected them together. The care 
of the mother does not cease with the hatching of the eggs; she 
leads the young ones wherever she moves, and she continues to 
remain beside and brood over them with affection for many days. 
If the young ones are disturbed or scattered, or if the parent is 
removed from them, she will on the first opportunity collect them 
again and brood over them as carefully as before. Whether or not 
she provides for her young as a hen provides for her chickens does 
not appear to be known ; but that she does provide nourishment for 
them till they are capable of taking care of themselves we may be 
fully assured. 
