angles, but a little concave. At first sight they seem to have one articulation nearly at the extremity, and appear terminated by an oval part ornamented with a dirty white and yellow spot; but on loosening them from the body, we see that this oval part with the spot is a portion of the wing itself, which projects from under the elytra, and is not concealed by it. When the insect displays its wings, they extend almost to the end of the abdomen, but when inactive they are folded in a little packet, and brought back under the elytra in a very marvellous manner. In unfolding the wing one is astonished at its extent and size, and can scarcely comprehend how it can find a place under a case of such small dimensions. By comparing together the two figures annexed of the elytra and wing, both of them delineated under the same lens, the disproportion in size is clearly perceptible.

The portions of the wing marked a b c d e are of a scaly substance, the rest is membranous, and extremely thin and transparent. The part d is that which appears from under the elytra, it forms the extremity of the packet when the wing is folded under its case. The membranous part of the wing, which is of an oval figure, is furnished with brown nerves very delicate, which proceed from the part c, and extend towards the circumference of the wing, so that they are arranged like the radii of a circle. Between these nerves there are others about half the length, which extend from the circumference to about the middle of the wing only. All these nerves are crossed near the circumference of the wing by another continued nerve, which takes the semicircular form of the wing, and serves to hold it well extended, as represented in the figure.

To place the wing under the elytra it is folded first lengthways like a fan; afterwards it is refolded in two different places in such manner that the folds form three portions which are applied one over the other. The first fold is made in the part c, which is the centre from whence the nerves proceed, as before mentioned; the wing is furnished as it were with an hinge. The other fold is produced near the middle of the membranous part, and near the extremity of the demi nerves, on which account the nerves have at that place the small scaly enlargements marked in the curved line fg, to enable them to sustain the folding. From this arrangement, and by means of the different folds, the wing is reduced to a packet of a small size, and proportioned to that of the elytra, under which it is to find a place.

The male earwig differs very little from the female, except that the pincers at the end of the abdomen are larger and stronger. At the beginning of the month of June De Geer found under a stone a female earwig, accompanied by many little insects, which evidently appeared to be young ones, of which she was the mother. They continued close to her without quitting her, and often placed themselves even under her belly, as chickens do under a hen. The insects of this genus, therefore, have in some sort the care of their young, and even after they are hatched they seem anxious to protect them by keeping near them. The little ones resemble their mother in figure, excepting that they have neither wings nor elytra, and the breast and thorax are not distinguishable; the body is long, but thicker in the middle than at the extremities; it is divided into thirteen rings, of which the three first answer to the thorax and breast, and to these rings the six feet are attached, one pair to each ring. The head has precisely the same figure as that of the perfect insect. He placed the little ones with their mother in a box, into which he had put a little fresh earth. They did not enter the earth, but it was curious to see how they thrust themselves under the belly and between the feet of the mother, who remained very quiet, and suffered them to continue there. She seemed then to cover them, as a hen covers her chickens, and they often remained in that position for hours. To feed them he gave them a piece of a pippin very ripe. In an instant the large carwig ran upon it, and ate it with a good appetite. The young ones seemed also to eat a little, but with much lefs relish. On the 8th of June he re

marked that the young earwigs had moulted or changed their skins, and he found also the sloughs that they had quitted. This moulting had produced but a very slight change in their figure, but it brought them nearer to the perfect insect. At another time, about the beginning of April, he found a female earwig under some stones placed over a heap of eggs, of which she took all the care imaginable, without ever forsaking them; and this Mr. Frisch had observed before him. He took her with the eggs, and placed her in a box half filled with fresh earth, so that the eggs were dispersed here and there; but she soon removed them one after another, carrying them between her jaws, and, at the end of some days, he saw that she had collected them all into one place upon the surface of the earth, and remained constantly on the heap, without quitting it for a moment, so that she seemed truly to sit for the purpose of hatching her eggs. The eggs were white, smooth, pretty large, and of an oval figure, and the young ones were hatched the 13th of May. In figure they were similar to those beforementioned, but at their birth they were all white; the eyes and the teeth were alone reddish, and towards the tail a yellow matter was observable through the skin. The most remarkable circumstance, however, was their size, which by no means corresponded with the bignefs of the eggs from whence they were produced; for it appeared scarcely pofsible for them to be inclosed in so small a space, nor could he have believed it, if he had not seen them come out, so that they must have been much compressed. The body of these little animals appeared much swelled, and the beating

of the heart, or of the grand artery placed along the back, was very perceptible through the transparent

skin.

He kept them in the box with their mother, feeding them with bits of apple from time to time, and saw them grow every day, and change their skins more than once; but he neglected to notice the exact number of times they moulted before they arrived at a state of perfection. The number of young ones, however, daily decreased, and the mother having died, he found her mangled and half eaten, which could only have been done by her own progeny. The little ones which had disappeared, without doubt, shared the same fate; but he had reason to think it was for want of other food, for he had neglected to supply them regularly. He never saw them attack each other while living, but it is certain that those which died were eaten by the others. On the 23d of July one only remained alive; it was full grown, and then in the nymph or pupa state. To so curious and interesting a narrative there is little left to add; I shall therefore only remark, that the destructive properties of this insect are not confined to fruit, but that it also destroys, in great quantity, young and tender plants. In the month of August, 1794, I planted out some cos-lettuces from the seed-bed; they were very small, but I was surprised, three days afterwards, when it was evident they had taken root, to find them much eaten; and being desirous to preserve them, I searched with unremitting care for snails or slugs, but found none; not even after a refreshing shower of rain. The next day my plants were further destroyed, but the destroyer