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Test Bank for Microeconomics Canadian 14th

Edition Mcconnell Brue Flynn Barbiero 1259267083


9781259267086

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arrangement of its parts, reminding one somewhat of the compound eyes
of the higher Insects. This structure is represented in Fig. 100, B, C; it is
said by Sir John Lubbock to be present in some of the Lipuridae that have
no ocelli, and he therefore prefers to speak of it as the "post-antennal"
organ.

A very characteristic feature in the Collembola is the slight development


of the tracheal system. Although writers are far from being in accord as to
details, it seems that stigmata and tracheae are usually absent. In
Smynthurus there are, however, according to Lubbock,—whose
statement is confirmed by Meinert and Tullberg,—a pair of stigmata
situate on the head below the antennae, and from these there extends a
tracheal system throughout the body. Such a position for stigmata is
almost, if not quite unique in Insects; Grassi, however, seems to have
found something of the kind existing in the embryo of the bee.

At present only a small number of species of the Order Aptera are known;
Lubbock recognised about sixty British species, and Finot sixty-five as
found in France. The North American forms have not received so much
attention as the European, and the Aptera of other countries, though they
are probably everywhere fairly numerous, are scarcely known at all. A few
have been described from the Indo-Malayan region and some from Chili,
and the writer has seen species from the West Indian and Sandwich
Islands. All the exotic forms as yet detected are very similar to those of
Europe.

The Thysanura are probably not very numerous in species, and appear to
be in general intolerant of cold. With the Collembola the reverse is the
case. They are excessively numerous in individuals; they are found nearly
everywhere on the surface of the ground in climatic conditions like those
of our country, while no less than sixteen species have been found in
Nova Zembla and one each in Kerguelen and South Georgia. One
species, if not more, of Podura, lives on the surface of stagnant waters,
on which the minute creatures may frequently be seen leaping about in
great numbers after being disturbed.

In 1874 the plain of Gennevilliers in France was copiously irrigated; in the


following year the soil was still very damp, and there existed numerous
pools of stagnant water, on the surface of which Podura aquatica was
developed in such prodigious quantity as to excite the astonishment of
the inhabitants of the region.

Accounts have been frequently given of the occurrence on snow and


glaciers of Insects spoken of as snow-fleas, or snow-worms. These
mostly relate to Poduridae, which are sometimes found in countless
number in such situations. The reason for this is not well understood.
According to F. Löw,[123] on the 17th of March at St. Jacob in Carinthia,
Parson Kaiser observed, on the occurrence of the first thaw-weather,
enormous numbers of a Podura (? Achorutes murorum) on the surface of
the snow for an extent of about half a mile, the snow being rendered
black in appearance by them; eleven days afterwards they were found in
diminished numbers on the snow, but in large quantity on the water left by
its melting. This account suggests that the occurrence of the Insects on
the snow was merely an incident during their passage from the land,
where they had been hibernating, to the surface of the water.

One little member of the Lipuridae, Anurida maritima (Lipura maritima of


Lubbock), has the habit, very unusual for an Insect, of frequenting salt
water. It lives amongst the rocks on the shores of the English Channel,
between high and low tide-marks. Its habits have been to some extent
observed by Laboulbène[124] and Moniez[125]; it appears to be
gregarious, and when the tide is high, to shelter itself against the
commotions of the water in chinks of the rocks and other positions of
advantage. When the tide is out the Insects apparently delight to
congregate in masses on the surface of the rock pools. This Anurida can
endure prolonged immersion; but both the observers we are quoting say
that it is, when submerged, usually completely covered with a coat of air
so that the water does not touch it. The little creature can, however, it
would appear, subsist for some time in the pools of salt water, even when
it is not surrounded by its customary protecting envelope of the more
congenial element. Its food is said, on very slender evidence, to consist of
the remains of small marine animals, such as Molluscs. We reproduce
some of Laboulbène's figures (Fig. 100); the under-surface shows at a the
divided papilla of the ventral tube; B, C represent the peculiar
prostemmatic organ, alluded to on p. 193, in its mature and immature
states.
Fig. 100.—Anurida maritima: A, under-surface; a, papilla of ventral tube; B,
prostemmatic organ of young; C, of adult. (After Laboulbène.)

Very little information exists as to the life-history of the Aptera; as for their
food, it is generally considered to consist of refuse vegetable or animal
matter. It is usual to say that they are completely destitute of
metamorphosis, but Templeton says of Lepisma niveo-fasciata that "the
young differ so much from the mature Insect that I took them at first for a
distinct species; the thoracic plates are proportionately less broad, and
the first is devoid of the white marginal band." As regards the moults, it
would appear that in this, as in so many other points, great diversity
prevails, Grassi stating that in Campodea there is a single fragmentary
casting of the skin; and Sommer informing us that in Macrotoma plumbea
the moults are not only numerous, but continue, after the creature has
attained its full growth, throughout life.

A very marked feature of the Aptera is their intolerance of a dry


atmosphere. Although Campodea can exist under very diverse
conditions, it dies very soon after being placed in a dry closed tube; and
the same susceptibility appears to be shared by all the other members of
the Order, though it is not so extreme in all; possibly it may be due to
some peculiarity in the structure of the integument. So far as tolerance of
heat and cold goes, the Aptera can apparently exist in any climate, for
though some of the species extend to the Arctic regions, others are
peculiar to the tropics.

Thysanura are recorded by Klebs and Scudder as occurring commonly in


amber; the latter author has described a fossil, supposed to be a
Lepisma, found in the Tertiary deposits at Florissant. Scudder has also
described another fossil, likewise from Florissant, which he considers to
form a special sub-order of Thysanura—Ballostoma—but it is extremely
doubtful whether this anomalous creature should be assigned to the
Order at all. A still older fossil, Dasyleptus lucasii Brongniart, from the
Carboniferous strata in France, is considered to belong to the Order
Aptera, but it must be admitted there is some doubt on this point.

The interest aroused in the minds of naturalists by the comparatively


simple forms of these purely wingless and therefore anomalous Insects
has been accompanied by much discussion as to their relations to other
Insects, and as to whether they are really primitive forms, or whether they
may perhaps be degenerate descendants from some less unusual states
of Insect-life. Mayer and Brauer dissociated our Aptera entirely from other
Insects, and proposed to consider the Hexapoda as being composed of
two groups—(1) the Apterygogenea, consisting of the few species we
have been specially considering; and (2) the Pterygogenea, including all
the rest of the immense crowd of Insect forms. They were not, however,
able to accompany their proposed division by any satisfactory characters
of distinction, and the subsequent progress of knowledge has not
supported their view, all the best investigators having found it necessary
to recognise the extremely intimate relations of these Insects with the
Orthoptera. Meinert thought that Lepisma must be included in the
Orthoptera; Grassi proposes to consider the Thysanura as a distinct
division of Orthoptera; and Oudemans recognises the close relations
existing between Machilis and Orthoptera proper. Finot includes the
Aptera in his Orthoptères de la France, and a species of Japyx has
actually been described by a competent entomologist as an apterous
earwig. At present, therefore, we must conclude that no good distinction
has been found to justify the separation of the Aptera from all other
Insects.

The taxonomy of the Collembola has not yet been adequately treated,
and it is possible that more grounds will be found for separating them as a
distinct Order from the Thysanura,—a course that was advocated by
Lubbock,—than exist for dividing these latter from the Orthoptera proper.
There are apparently no grounds for considering the Aptera to be
degenerate Insects, and we may adopt the view of Grassi, that they are
primitive, or rather little evolved forms. It must be admitted that there are
not at present any sufficient reasons for considering these Insects to be
"ancient" or "ancestral." The vague general resemblance of Campodea to
many young Insects of very different kinds is clearly the correlative of its
simple form, and is no more proof of actual ancestry to them than their
resemblances inter se are proofs of ancestry to one another. But even if
deprived of its claim to antiquity and to ancestral honours, it must be
admitted that Campodea is an interesting creature. In its structure one of
the most fragile of organisms, with a very feeble respiratory system,
inadequate organs of sense, only one pair of ovarian tubes, very
imperfect mouth-organs, and a simple alimentary canal, it nevertheless
flourishes while highly-endowed Insects become extinct. In the suburban
gardens of London, on the shores of the Mediterranean, on the summits
of the higher Pyrenees, in North America even it is said in the caves of
Kentucky, and in India, Campodea is at home, and will probably always
be with us.

CHAPTER VIII

ORTHOPTERA—FORFICULIDAE, EARWIGS—HEMIMERIDAE

Order II.—Orthoptera.

Insects with the mouth parts conspicuous, formed for biting, the four palpi very distinct,
the lower lip longitudinally divided in the middle. The tegmina (mesothoracic wings), of
parchment-like consistence, in repose closed on the back of the Insect so as to protect it.
The metathoracic wings, of more delicate consistence, ample, furnished with radiating or
divergent nervures starting from the point of articulation, and with short cross nervules
forming a sort of network; in repose collapsing like a fan, and more or less completely
covered by the tegmina (except in certain Phasmidae, where, though the wings are
ample, the tegmina are minute, so that the wings are uncovered). In a few forms (winged
Forficulidae and some Blattidae) the metathoracic wings are, in addition to the
longitudinal folding, contracted by means of one or two transverse folds. The mode of
growth of each individual is a gradual increase of size, without any abrupt change of
form, except that the wings are only fully developed in the final condition. There is no
special pupal instar. Species in which the wings are absent or rudimentary are
numerous.

The Orthoptera are Insects of comparatively large size. The Order,


indeed, includes the largest of existing Insects, while none are so minute
as many of the members of the other Orders are; three millimetres is the
least length known for an Orthopterous Insect, and there are very few so
small, though this is ten times the length of the smallest beetle. The Order
includes earwigs, cockroaches, soothsayers or praying-insects, stick- and
leaf-insects, grasshoppers, locusts, green grasshoppers, and crickets.

The changes of form that accompany the growth of the individual are
much less abrupt and conspicuous than they are in most other Insects.
The metamorphosis is therefore called Paurometabolous. It has been
supposed by some naturalists that Orthoptera go through a larger portion
of their development in the egg than other Insects do. This does not
clearly appear to be the case, though it seems that there are distinctions
of a general character in the embryology; the period of development in
the egg is prolonged, and the yolk is said by Wheeler[126] to be more than
usually abundant in comparison with the size of the young embryo. The
embryonic development may in tropical countries be accomplished in
three weeks (see Mantidae), but in countries where winter supervenes,
the period may in some species be extended over seven or eight months.

The external features of the post-embryonic development—a term that is


more convenient in connexion with Orthoptera than metamorphosis—are
as follows: the wings are never present when the Insect is first hatched,
but appear subsequently, and increase in size at the moults; the form and
proportions of the segments of the body—especially of the thorax—
undergo much change; an alteration of colour occurs at some of the
moults, and the integument becomes harder in the adult condition.
Neither the development of the internal organs, nor the physiological
processes by which the changes of external form are effected, appear to
have been studied to any great extent.

Many of the Orthoptera do not possess wings fit for flight, and some
species even in the adult state have no trace whatever of such organs.
Flight, indeed, appears to be of minor importance in the Order; in many
cases where the wings exist they are purely musical organs, and are not
of any use for flight. The apterous and the flightless conditions are not
confined to one division of the Order, but are found in all the families and
in many of their subdivisions. As the front pair of wings in Orthoptera do
not really carry out the function of flight, and as they differ in several
particulars from the hinder pair, or true wings, it is usual to call them
tegmina. The musical powers of the Orthoptera are confined to the
saltatorial group of families.
Fig. 101.—Poecilimon affinis ♂. Bulgaria. Alar organs serving only as
musical organs. The ear on front tibia and aural orifice of prothorax are
well shown.

The Cursoria are dumb or nearly so; it is a remarkable fact that also in
this latter division the alar organs, though frequently present, have but
little value for flight, and are in some cases devoted to what we may call
purposes of ornament or concealment. This is specially the case in the
Phasmidae and Mantidae, where the effectiveness of colour and pattern
of these parts becomes truly astonishing. The tegmina frequently exhibit
an extraordinary resemblance to vegetable structures, and this
appearance is not superficial, for it may be seen that the nervures of the
wings in their disposition and appearance resemble almost exactly the
ribs of leaves. One of the most remarkable of the features of Orthoptera is
that a great difference frequently exists between the colours of the
tegmina and of the wings, i.e. the front and hind wings; the latter are
concealed in the condition of repose, but when activity is entered on and
they are displayed, the individual becomes in appearance a totally
different creature. In some cases, contrary to what usually occurs in
Insects, it is the female that is most remarkable; the male in Mantidae and
Phasmidae being frequently a creature of quite inferior appearance and
power in comparison with his consort. The musical powers of the
saltatorial Orthoptera are, however, specially characteristic of the male
sex. There is evidence that these powers are of great importance to the
creatures, though in what way is far from clear. Some parts of the
structures of the body are in many of these musical species clearly
dominated by the musical organs, and are apparently specially directed to
securing their efficiency. We find in some Locustidae that the tegmina are
nothing but sound-producing instruments, while the pronotum is
prolonged to form a hood that protects them without encumbering their
action. In the males of the Pneumorides, where the phonetic organ is
situated on the abdomen, this part of the body is inflated and tense, no
doubt with the result of increasing the volume and quality of the sound. In
the genus Methone (Fig. 185) we find a grasshopper whose great hind
legs have no saltatorial function, and but little power of locomotion, but
act as parts of a sound-producing instrument, and as agents for
protecting some parts of the body in repose. Further particulars of these
cases must be looked for in our accounts of the different groups.

The eggs of many Orthoptera are deposited in capsules or cases; these


capsules may contain only one egg, or a great many.

The Order includes many species of Insects, though in Britain it is poorly


represented: we have only about forty species, and this small number
includes some that are naturalised. Only a few of the forty extend their
range to Scotland. A revision of the species found in Britain has recently
been made by Mr. Eland Shaw.[127] In continental Europe, especially in
the south, the species become more numerous; about 500 are known as
inhabitants of geographical Europe. In countries where the face of nature
has been less transformed by the operations of man, and especially in the
tropical parts of the world, Orthoptera are much more abundant.

The lowest number at which the species now existing on the surface of
the earth can be estimated is 10,000. This, however, is probably far under
the mark, for the smaller and more obscure species of Orthoptera have
never been thoroughly collected in any tropical continental region, while
new forms of even the largest size are still frequently discovered in the
tropics.

We shall treat the Order as composed of eight families:—

1. Forficulidae—Tegmina short, wings complexly


folded; body armed at the extremity with
strong forceps.
Series, Cursoria: 2. Hemimeridae—Apterous: head exserted,
hind legs but constricted behind.
little different 3. Blattidae—Coxae of the legs large, exserted,
from the protecting the lower part of the body.
others. 4. Mantidae—Front legs very large, raptorial,
armed with spines.
5. Phasmidae—Mesothorax large as compared
with the prothorax.
Series, Saltatoria: 6. Acridiidae—Antennae short, not setaceous, of
hind legs not more than 30 joints, tarsi three-jointed.
elongate, 7. Locustidae—Antennae very long, setaceous,
formed for composed of a large number of joints, tarsi
leaping, their four-jointed.
femora usually 8. Gryllidae—Antennae very long, setaceous,
thickened. tarsi two- or three-jointed.

The first five of these subdivisions are amongst the most distinct of any
that exist in the Insecta, there being no connecting links between them.
The three groups forming the Saltatoria are much more intimately allied,
and should, taken together, probably have only the same taxonomic value
as any one of the other five groups.

Owing partly to the inherent difficulties of the subject, and partly to the
fragmentary manner in which it has been treated by systematists, it has
been impossible till recently to form any clear idea of the classification of
Orthoptera. During the last twenty years Henri de Saussure and Brunner
von Wattenwyl have greatly elucidated this subject. The latter of these
two distinguished naturalists has recently published[128] a revision of the
system of Orthoptera, which will be of great assistance to those who may
wish to study these Insects. We therefore reproduce from it the characters
of the tribes, placing the portion relating to each family at the end of our
sketch thereof.

Fam. I. Forficulidae—Earwigs.

(DERMAPTERA OR DERMATOPTERA OF BRAUER AND OTHERS)


Insects of elongate form, with an imbricate arrangement of the segments of the
body; bearing at the posterior extremity a pair of callipers or more distorted
instruments. The hind wings (when present) folded in a complex manner, and
covered, except at their tips, by a pair of short wing-covers (tegmina), of a leather-
like consistence. Wingless forms are very numerous. The young is very similar to
the adult.

Fig. 102.—Pygidicrana hugeli. Java.

Although earwigs are said to be rare in most parts of the world, yet in
Europe no Insect is better known than Forficula auricularia, the
common earwig, it being very abundant even in gardens and
cultivated places. In certain seasons it not unfrequently enters our
houses, in which case it too often falls a victim to prejudices that
have very little to justify them. This Insect is a good type of the
winged earwigs. In the parts of the mouth it exhibits the structures
usual in the Orthoptera; there is a large labrum, a pair of maxillae,
each provided with two lobes and a palpus consisting of two very
short basal joints and three longer joints beyond these; the
mandibles are strong, with curvate pointed extremities; in the lower
lip there is a ligula exposed in front of a very large mentum; it
consists of two pieces, not joined together along the middle, but
each bearing on its lateral edge a palpus with two elongate joints
and a short basal one; this lip is completed by the lingua, which
reposes on the upper face of the part, and completely overlaps and
protects the chink left by the want of union along the middle line of
the external parts of the lip. The antennae are elongate, filiform, and
are borne very near the front of the exserted head. There are rather
large facetted eyes, but no ocelli. The three segments of the thorax
are distinct, the prothorax being quite free and capable of movement
independent of the parts behind it: the meso- and meta-nota are
covered by the tegmina and wings; these latter project slightly from
underneath the former in the shape of small slips, that are often of
rather lighter colour; the wing-covers are short, not extending beyond
the insertion of the hind legs, and repose flat on the back, meeting
together in a straight line along the middle. These peculiar flat,
abbreviated wing-covers, with small slips (which are portions of the
folded wings) projecting a little from underneath them, are distinctive
marks of the winged Forficulidae.

The legs are inserted far from one another, the coxae being small;
each sternum of the three thoracic segments projects backwards,
forming a peculiar long, free fold, underlapping the front part of the
following segment. The hind body or abdomen is elongate, and is
formed of ten segments; the number readily visible being two less in
the female than it is in the male. The segments are fitted together by
a complex imbrication, which admits of great mobility and distension,
while offering a remarkable power of resistance to external pressure:
each segment is inserted far forward in the interior of that preceding
it, and each also consists of separate upper and lower plates that
much overlap where they meet at the sides (see Fig. 103). The body
is always terminated by a pair of horny, pincer-like processes, which
are differently shaped according to the sex of the individual.

Fig. 103.—Lateral view of Forficula auricularia L. Female abdomen


distended showing spiracles, S, and the small 8th and 9th dorsal
plates (7 and 8 in Fig.).

The structure of the abdomen in the earwig has given rise to


considerable discussion. In Fig. 103 we reproduce Westwood's
diagram of it as seen fully distended in a female specimen; in this
state the minute spiracles can be detected, though in the normal
condition of the body they cannot be seen, being placed on the
delicate membranes that connect the chitinous plates. Westwood's
interpretation of the structure was not, however, quite correct, as the
part which he considered to be the first dorsal plate is really the
second; so that the segments numbered 7, 8, 9 in our figure are
really 8, 9, 10. The common earwig is interesting as exhibiting, in an
imperfect state, the union of the first dorsal plate of the abdomen
with the thorax; a condition which is carried to so great an extent in
the Hymenoptera as to quite obscure the nature of the parts, and
which has consequently given rise to much perplexity and
discussion. We represent this structure as seen in the common
earwig in Fig. 104, where a represents the pronotum, b the
mesonotum, c the metanotum, d the first, f the second abdominal
segment; e being a delicate membrane of considerable size that
intervenes between the two, and which is more exposed than are the
corresponding membranes connecting the subsequent rings; a
condition similar to that which is found in Cimbex, Cephus, and some
other Hymenoptera.

Fig. 104.—Dorsal portions of the middle segments of body of Forficula


auricularia (tegmina and wings removed).

On the under surface of the abdomen of the earwig the full number
of 10 plates cannot be superficially distinguished; but it is found by
dissection that in the female the short eighth and ninth dorsal rings
are joined on the ventral aspect by a delicate membrane, while the
tenth ventral is of a less delicate nature, and forms a triangular plate
at the base of each half of the forceps. Between the branches of the
forceps there is a perpendicular plate, the pygidium of Orthopterists,
possibly the unpaired terminal portion of the body seen in some
embryos, and called the telson. The pygidium is a separate sclerite,
though it looks as if it were only a portion of the large tenth dorsal
plate bent downwards, and in some descriptive works is erroneously
described as being such.
Fig. 105.—Chelidura dilatata, male. Pyrenees.

Fig. 106.—Tegmina and wings (visible in part or invisible) of apterous


earwigs. 1, Chelidura sp.; 2, Chelidura dilatata; 3, Anisolabis
moesta; 4. A. maritima. a, First thoracic segment; b, second; c,
third; d, basal portion of abdomen.

A very large number of species of Forficulidae have the organs of


flight undeveloped. Fig. 105 represents Chelidura dilatata, an
apterous form that is very common in the Eastern Pyrenees. The
condition of the meso- and meta-nota—the parts from which the
tegmina and wings are developed, and to which they are attached
when present—is very remarkable in these forms, and exhibits much
variety. In Fig. 106 we represent the conditions of these parts in a
few apterous forms. The tegmina or the segment from which they
are developed (b), are seen in the shape of a plate which may
extend all across the middle and be undivided (No. 4); in which case
the appearance indicates entire absence of the tegmina; these are,
on the contrary, evidently present in the form of slips grafted one to
each side of the second thoracic segment in Anisolabis (No. 3); or
they may look like short broad slips extending all across the body,
and marking off a piece frequently called a scutellum, but which is
really the mesonotum (some species of Chelidura, as No. 2); or,
again, they may be nearly free tegmina, somewhat similar to those of
the winged forms; this is the case with some species of Chelidura, as
represented by No. 1. This last figure is taken from a species from
the Sierra Nevada, apparently undescribed, allied to C. bolivari.

In the cases we are considering no analogous structures exist on the


metanotum (the part of the body that in the winged forms bears the
wings, and which is marked c in our diagrams, Fig. 106), so that the
tegmina are to all appearance less rudimentary (or vestigial) than the
wings. The metanotum forms a sort of flap, called by Fischer[129]
"involucrum alarum"; he considered the part immediately behind this
to be the metanotum; this piece is, however, no doubt really part of
the abdomen (d in our Figure). This is apparently the view taken by
Brunner.[130] The structure of these parts is important as bearing on
the subject of the nature and origin of Insects' wings, a question to
which no satisfactory answer has yet been given. The appearances
we have remarked on are to some extent similar to the conditions
existing in the immature state of the organs of flight in the common
earwig (see Fig. 112, p. 212), but whether the varieties presented by
the wingless forms have parallels in the immature conditions of the
various winged forms is quite uncertain, the life-histories of earwigs
being almost unknown.

Fig. 107.—Wing of Forficula auricularia. A, Wing expanded,


explanation in text; B, wing folded and packed.

The developed wings of earwigs are worthy of attention, both as


regards their actual structure and the manner in which they are
folded up in repose. When expanded they have a shape curiously
suggestive of the human ear. The chief parts of the wing, as shown
in Fig. 107, A, are a, b, two portions of the horny piece that forms the
scale which covers the more delicate parts of the wing when it is
folded, and which, according to Brunner, represents the radial and
ulnar fields of the wings of Acridiidae and Locustidae (see Fig. 167);
c is the small apical field limited below by the vena dividens; d is the
vena plicata which runs along the under side of the scale as far as
the apical field, where it gives off the axillary nerves; e is a vena
spuria, or adventitious vein such as exists in many other Orthoptera
with delicate wings. On the front part of the scale, a, and on a
different plane so that it is not shown in our figure, there is a very
delicate small band which is supposed to represent the marginal field
of the wing of other Orthoptera. There are, however, grave difficulties
in the way of accepting this view of the earwig's wing, amongst
which we may mention the position of the vena dividens and its
relation to the so-called radial and ulnar fields of the wing. The wings
are remarkable for their delicacy; moreover, the way in which they
fold up so as to be packed in the manner shown in B, Fig. 107, is
very interesting, there being, in fact, no other Insects that fold up
their wings in so complicated and compact a fashion as the earwigs
do. The process is carried out somewhat as follows: the longer radii
come a little nearer together, the delicate membrane between them
falling into folds somewhat like those of a paper fan; a transverse
fold, or turn-over, then occurs at the point where the radii, or axillary
nerves, start from the vena plicata; then a second transverse fold,
but in a reversed direction, occurs affecting the wing just close to the
spots where the shorter radial nervures are dilated; then by a
contraction close to the scale the whole series of complex folds and
double are brought together and compressed.

It is quite a mystery why earwigs should fold their wings in this


complex manner, and it is still more remarkable that the Insects very
rarely use them. Indeed, though Forficula auricularia is scarcely
surpassed in numbers by any British Insect, yet it is rarely seen on
the wing; it is probable that the majority of the individuals of this
species may never make use of their organs of flight or go through
the complex process of unfolding and folding them. It should be
remarked that no part of the delicate membranous expanse of the
wing is exposed when the wings are packed in their position of
repose; for the portion that projects from under the tegmina—and
which, it will be remembered, is always present, for when wings exist
in earwigs they are never entirely concealed by the tegmina—is, it is
curious to note, of hard texture, and is frequently coloured and
sculptured in harmony with the tegmen; in fact, one small part of the
wing forms in colour and texture a most striking contrast to the rest
of the organ, but agrees in these respects with the wing-covers. This
condition is seen in Fig. 108, where B shows the sculpture of the
tegmina t, and of the projecting tips of the wings w. There are
numerous other instances in Orthoptera where one part of a wing or
wing-case is exposed and the other part concealed, and the exposed
portion is totally different in colour and texture from the concealed
portion.

The wings of earwigs are attached to the body in a very unusual


manner; each wing is continued inwards on the upper surface of the
metanotum, as if it were a layer of the integument meeting its fellow
on the mesial line; the point of contact forming two angles just
behind the metanotum.

Some writers have considered that the tegmina of earwigs are not
the homologues of those of other Orthoptera, but are really tegulae
(cf. Fig. 56, p. 103). We are not aware that any direct evidence has
been produced in support of this view.

The pair of forceps with which the body is armed at its extremity
forms another character almost peculiar to the earwigs, but which
exists in the genus Japyx of the Thysanura. These forceps vary
much in the different genera of the family; they sometimes attain a
large size and assume very extraordinary and distorted shapes.
They are occasionally used by the Insects as a means of completing
the process of packing up the wings, but in many species it is not
probable that they can be used for this purpose, because their great
size and peculiarly distorted forms render them unsuitable for
assisting in a delicate process of arrangement; they are, too, always
present in the wingless forms of the family. Their importance to the
creature is at present quite obscure; we can only compare them with
the horns of Lamellicorn Coleoptera, which have hitherto proved
inexplicable so far as utility is concerned. No doubt the callipers of
the earwigs give them an imposing appearance, and may be of
some little advantage on this account; they are not known to be used
as offensive instruments for fighting, but they are occasionally
brought into play for purposes of defence, the creatures using them
for the infliction of nips, which, however, are by no means of a
formidable character.

Fig. 108.—Anechura scabriuscula. Himalaya. A, Outline of the Insect;


B, tegmina, t, and tips of wings, w, showing their similar sculpture.

These forceps are, in the case of the common earwig—and they


have not been studied from this point of view in any other species—
remarkable, because of the great variation in their development in
the male, a character which again reminds us of the horns of
Lamellicorn beetles: in the female they are comparatively invariable,
as is also the case in the few species of Lamellicornia, which
possess horned females. A and B in Figure 109 represent the
forceps of different males of the common earwig, C showing those of
the other sex. The subject of the variation of the male callipers of the
earwig has been considered by Messrs. Bateson and Brindley,[131]
who examined 1000 specimens captured on the same day on one of
the Farne islands off the coast of Northumberland; 583 of these were
mature males, and the pincers were found to vary in length from
about 2½ mm. to 9 mm. (A and B in Fig. 109 represent two of the
more extreme forms of this set of individuals.) Specimens of medium
size were not, as it might perhaps have been expected they would
be, the most common; there were, in fact, only about 12 individuals
having the forceps of the medium length—4¾ to 5¼ mm., while
there were no less than 90 individuals having forceps of a length of
about 7 mm., and 120 with a length of from 2¾ to 3¼. Males with a
medium large length of the organ and with a medium small length
thereof were the most abundant, so that a sort of dimorphism was
found to exist. Similar relations were detected in the length of the
horns of the male of a Lamellicorn beetle examined by these
gentlemen. In the case of the set of earwigs we have mentioned,
very little variation existed in the length of the forceps in the female
sex.

Fig. 109.—Forceps of the common earwig: A, of large male; B, of small


male; C, of female.

In many earwigs—including F. auricularia—there may be seen on


each side of the dorsal aspect of the true fourth, or of the fourth and
neighbouring segments of the hind body a small elevation, called by
systematists a plica or fold, and on examination the fold will be found
to possess a small orifice on its posterior aspect. These folds are
shown in Figs. 105 and 108; they have been made use of for
purposes of classification, though no functional importance was
attached to them. Meinert, however, discovered[132] that there are
foetid glands in this situation, and Vosseler has recently shown[133]
that the folds are connected with scent-glands, from which proceed,
in all probability, the peculiar odour that is sometimes given off by the
earwig. The forms destitute of the folds, e.g. Labidura, are
considered to have no scent glands. There is a very peculiar series
of smooth marks in the earwigs on the dorsal aspect of the
abdominal segments, and these are present in the glandless forms
as well as in the others.

The internal anatomy has been to some extent investigated by


Dufour and Meinert. Dufour dissected F. auricularia and Labidura
riparia, and found[134] that salivary glands exist in the latter Insect
(called by him Forficula gigantea), though he was unable to discover
them in the common earwig. According to Meinert,[135] there are,
however, salivary glands affixed to the stipes of the maxillae in F.
auricularia, while (in addition?) L. riparia possesses very elongate
glands seated in the middle or posterior part of the breast. The
alimentary canal is destitute of convolutions, but oesophagus, crop,
and gizzard all exist, and the intestine behind the stomach consists
of three divisions. The Malpighian tubes are numerous, 30 or 40, and
elongate. The respiratory system is not highly developed. Earwigs—
the European species at least—have, as already mentioned, very
small powers of flight; the tracheal system is correspondingly small,
and is destitute of the vesicular dilatations that are so remarkable in
the migratory Locusts.

Fig. 110.—Labidura riparia, male. Europe.

The three thoracic spiracles[136] are readily observed in living


individuals. There are seven pairs of abdominal spiracles, which,
however, are very minute, and can only be found by distending the
body as shown in Fig. 103. The ventral chain consists of nine ganglia
(the sub-oesophageal centre is not alluded to by Dufour); the three
thoracic are equidistant and rather small; the hindmost of the six
abdominal ganglia is considerably larger than any one of the other
five.

The ovaries of Labidura riparia and Forficula auricularia are


extremely different. In L. riparia there are on each side five tubes,
each terminating separately in an obliquely directed lateral part of
the oviduct. In F. auricularia there is but one tube on each side, but it
is covered by three longitudinal series of very short sub-sessile,
grape-like bodies, each of the two tubes being much dilated behind
the point where these bodies cease.
The testes in earwigs are peculiar and simple; they consist, on each
side, of a pair of curvate tubular bodies, connected at their bases
and prolonged outwards in the form of an elongate, slender vas
deferens. The structures in the males of several species have been
described at some length by Meinert,[137] who finds that in some
species a double ejaculatory duct exists.

Fig. 111.—Ovaries of Labidura riparia, A; and Forficula auricularia, B.


(After Dufour.)

The young is similar to the adult in form; in the winged forms it is


always easy to distinguish the adult by the full development of the
wings, but in the wingless forms it can only be decided with certainty
that a specimen is not adult by the softer and weaker condition of the
integuments. Scarcely anything appears to be known as to the life-
history, except a few observations that have been made on the
common earwig; Camerano found[138] that this Insect has certainly
three ecdyses, and possibly an earlier one which he failed to notice,
and his observation confirms the vague previous statement of
Fischer. The eggs, in the neighbourhood of Turin, are deposited and
hatched in the early spring; in one case they were laid on the 10th
March, and the Insects issuing from them had completed their
growth and were transformed into perfect Insects on the 22nd May.
In the immature state the alar structures of the future imago may be
detected. The tegmina-bearing sclerites, t, Fig. 112, look then
somewhat like those of some of the apterous forms (Fig. 106) and,
as shown in A and B, Fig. 112, do not differ greatly in the earlier and
later stages. The wings, however, change much more than the

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