84 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



the life history in breeding cages. Dr. Howard thought that Mr. 

 Simpson's method of observation and record was most surely cal 

 culated to furnish the data for correct conclusions. 



The final paper of the evening was by Prof. Cook, and enti 

 tled : 



THE EARWIG'S FORCEPS AND THE PHYLOGENY OF 

 INSECTS. 



By O. F. COOK. 



The earwigs are a group of tropical insects with very few rep 

 resentatives in temperate regions. But in spite of their retiring 

 habits they have received a considerable amount of popular atten 

 tion, because of the fear inspired by the rather formidable pair of 

 forceps carried at the end of the body. Entomologists know, 

 however, that the creatures are quite harmless, and that their 

 forceps are not only free from any poison glands, but are not suf 

 ficiently strong to make a wound or puncture. In fact, no ade 

 quate explanation of the function of the forceps seems to exist, as 

 evidenced by the following summary of the scientific knowledge 

 of the subject by Dr. Sharp, the eminent entomologist of the 

 British Museum. 



" The pair of forceps with which the body is armed at its ex 

 tremity 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 lam- 

 ellicorn Coleoptera, which have hitherto proved inexplicable, as 

 far as utility is concerned. No doubt the calipers of the earwigs 

 give them an imposing appearance, and it 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."* 



For at least one member of this group this deficiency of knowl 

 edge can be supplied by the fact that an earwig supposed to be 



*The Cambridge Natural History, V, p. 208, 1895. 



