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Rh is rendered necessary by the extreme shortness of the tegmina, which would otherwise be quite inadequate to cover any considerable portion of the wing, and the latter would be exposed to continual injury. The tegmina are square, resembling the elytra of one of the Staphylinidæ, without veins, and the wings are somewhat ear-shaped, the nervures radiating from a point not far from the centre of the anterior border. The maxillary palpi are five jointed, but the terminal joint is very minute. The ligula is forked; the antennæ filiform, varying in the number of articulations from twelve to thirty, in different species, and even in different stages of the same individual.

Besides the common earwig, (F. auricularia,) there are at least four other species indigenous to Britain, and others are found in foreign countries; all our native kinds, however, are rare, except F. minor, (constituting the genus Labia of Leach,) which occurs not unfrequently, and is usually observed on the wing, which is not often the case with the common species. The latter are nocturnal insects, frequenting moist and shady places, and are particularly obnoxious to gardeners and florists for the injuries they commit to fruits and flowers. They are most partial to the