EORF1CULA AURICULABIA. 51 



window between 9.30 and 10.30 p.m. on three warm, 

 dark, sultry, calm nights in succession. Twenty-six 

 entered, and all were males. He was able also to give 

 two instances of flight in the daylight. Theobald * 

 savs the adults readily take to the wins; on certain 



J tJ O 



nights, especially when the moon is bright, and that 

 numbers used later in the year to fly into his house 

 attracted by the lights. In Aug. 1867 W. D. Douglas 

 caught one flying at night in a garden at Lee. They 

 often come to the entomologist's " sugar" ; but it has 

 not been noticed whether they arrive on the wing. In 

 consequence of F. auricularia so seldom being seen to 

 fly, little is known as to whether the callipers are 

 used in opening or closing the wings. Burr, however, 

 mentions that it has been observed in one instance. 



Occasionally F. auricularia occurs in great numbers. 

 Such was the case near Kingston-on-Thames in 1881. 

 Writing on 18 March 1916, 0. Whittaker sent to 

 me from the camp at Newmarket the following note 

 of the occurrence of this earwig in large numbers. 

 It appears that the orderly room in which he was 

 working consisted of a canvas tent supported by a 

 longitudinal ridge-pole resting on three upright posts. 

 Every day F. auricularia sought refuge up by the 

 ridge-pole, where they must have been in thousands. 

 From this elevation they used in the day-time to drop 

 excreta. Out of curiosity he one morning placed a 

 piece of paper on a table directly beneath the ridge- 

 pole. It was left for an hour, and, when counted, the 

 number of spots of excreta was found to be " three 

 score and eleven." This experiment was performed 

 about the end of June or beginning of July ; but F. 

 <ini'irnl<iria swarmed there all through the summer. 

 In the morniriof he would find five or six in his rifle- 



o 



breech and as many in the barrel. He did not take a 



& 



census of males and females, though the circumstances 

 would have afforded an excellent opportunity for doing 

 so. One morning he killed over 100 in one tent 



* ' Ent. Mo. Mag.' (2), vii, p. 60, 1896. 



