130 COLEOPTERA, 
folded ; first, in plaits, like a fan ; and 
then, in two places, they are folded 
across, so as to divide the length of the 
wing into three parts ; when expanded, 
they extend the whole length of the body ; 
but when closed up in these little packets 
they just fit under the elytra, which are 
only one third of their length. 
Lucy, That is, indeed, very curious ; 
I did not expect to be so amused in ex- 
amining an odious earwig. 
Mother, Every day's experience will 
furnish you with fresh proofs of the won- 
derful ingenuity and perfection of all the 
works of nature ; a perfection displayed 
in the formation, even of the wing of th^ 
most insignificant and despised insect. 
There is another circumstance, which may 
serve to lessen your contempt for the 
odious earwig — the uncommon care it 
takes of its young. A naturalist, who 
was remarkable for accurate and patient 
observation, on disturbing an earwig, in 
the beginning of April, perceived, that she 
had been sitting on a heap of little white. 
