52 BRITISH OKTHOPTEKA. 



without making an appreciable effect on their numbers. 

 There were about 100 tents and thousands of earwigs 

 in each. He did not see any examples of var. 

 forcipata. 



Six, four males and two females, were taken from 

 a wasps' nest at Manchester on 8 Sept. 1910 (Mrs. 

 Cawlev, f Lane, and Chesh. Fauna Records '). 



t/ ' * ' 



H. Y. Corbett relates how on 2 Sept. 1916 a fight 

 took place between ants (Mi/rmica ruginodis Nyl) and 

 a male common earwig. The latter made much use of 

 legs and callipers, but after a struggle of some two 

 hours he was much weakened and dragged into the 

 nest ('Naturalist,' Nov. 1916, p. 348). 



7 , anricularia is as common throuh- 



out Europe as it is in Britain. It occurs also in Asia 

 Minor, North Africa, and Madeira. It has found its 

 way to North America, and to Christchurch, New 

 Zealand, while it is mentioned for Japan. 



BRITISH LOCALITIES. 



Apparently this earwig is ubiquitous throughout the British 

 Isles, and to give all the localities that have been recorded 

 would be useless. It will be necessary therefore to mention 

 only outlying localities. Such are : St. Kilda and North 

 Uist (0, W. Dale] ; south end of Mull of Cantyre (Stewart) ; 

 Lunna in Shetland (Peacocke) ; Bass Bock and Isle of May 

 (Evans) ; Kilantringan, Wigtonshire (Evan) ; Isle of Man 

 (Shaw); Scilly Islands (Brindley) ; Lundy (Walker] ; Fair 

 Isles, Northumberland (Grimshcm') ; Gt. Aran in Gal way Bay, 

 Tory Island, and Clare Island (Carpenter) * 



" High males," i. e. var. forcipata, occur not uncommonly, 

 but I have records for the following counties only : Dorset, 

 Hants, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Somerset, Suffolk, and 

 Worcester. It is sometimes considered an island-form and 

 there are records of it for St. Kilda and the Scilly Isles. Its 

 distribution clearly requires much further investigation. 

 Brindley has written on the earwigs of the Scilly Isles, where 

 generally speaking these insects are numerous and var. 

 forcipata is common. ('Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.' Feb. 1914, etc.) 



* Dr. F. A. Walker says that F. auriculai-ia abounds in the Faroe Islands, 

 but does not occur in Iceland ('Entom.' 1890, p. 378). 



