UNNATURAL NATURAL HISTORY 61 
fact, the creature progressing by discharging 
water through a tubular organ known as a 
siphuncle, and thereby forcing itself back¬ 
wards through the water. 
That insects have fallen victims to many 
false reports is not surprising when one con¬ 
siders that they are generally regarded as 
objectionable creatures by the majority of 
people. A harmless moth, known as the 
death’s head on account of the skull-like 
pattern on its head, has been held responsible 
for causing an epidemic of disease, while the 
death-tick or death-watch beetle has the evil 
reputation of foretelling the death of human 
beings, notifying the approaching event by 
giving rise to a tapping sound. This noise 
is produced by the creature knocking its head 
against the decayed timber of houses or old 
furniture wherein it ensconces itself and, 
instead of being an omen of bad fortune, is 
merely the natural manner by which the 
insect signals to its mates. 
The earwig is another much-maligned crea¬ 
ture, popular opinion crediting it with the 
habit of entering the ears of human beings. 
It receives its name, derived from two Saxon 
words, namely ear, a bud, and wigga, a worm, 
owing to the creature’s habit of concealing 
itself in the buds of flowers, and is in no way 
