"Suborder DERMAPTERA[2] ([Greek: derma], skin; [Greek: pteron], wing), or Earwigs, consisting of the single family Forficulidae, which may be placed with the Orthoptera. They are rare insects with us, but very common in Europe, where there prevails a superstition that they get into the ear and cause all sorts of trouble. The front wings are small and leathery; the hind ones have the form of a quadrant, and look like a fan when opened; and the characteristic feature is a pair of forceps-like appendages at the end of the body, best developed in the males. They are nocturnal in habit, hiding during the day in any available recess. The female lays her eggs in the ground, and singularly enough, broods over them and over her young, the latter crowding under her like chicks under a hen." [2] Euplexoptera of some authors from [Greek: eu], well; [Greek: plecho], folded, referring to the folded wings. [Illustration: FIG. 33.--A Dragon-fly (_Libellula trimaculata_). (From Packard.)] "Order NEUROPTERA ([Greek: neuron], nerve; [Greek: pteron], wing), or Nerve-winged insects. Characterized by having the wings reticulate with numerous veins so as to look like net-work. The order forms two natural divisions, the first including all those which undergo a complete, and the second, called Pseudo-neuroptera (Dictyotoptera, Burmeister), those which undergo an incomplete metamorphosis. * * * The insects of this order are, as a whole, more lowly organized, and more generally aquatic, than either of the others. A natural arrangement of them is difficult on account of their degradational character. They present forms which are synthetic and closely approach the other orders, and the evolutionist naturally looks upon them as furnishing an idea of what the archetypal forms of our present insects may have been. They are, as a rule, large and sluggish, with the body parts soft and little specialized, and the muscles weak. Their remains are found in the Devonian and Carboniferous deposits. "They are mostly carnivorous, and with the exception of the White-ants and certain Book-lice they none of them affect man injuriously, while some are quite beneficial." [Illustration: FIG. 34.--Caddis-fly, larva and its case. (From Packard.)] The first division of this order, or the Neuroptera proper, characterized by having incomplete metamorphoses, may be considered under the three following suborders: