4G THE FLORIST. 



THE EARWIG. 



Your remarks in the Florist of October, under the head of "A Boon 

 to Dahlia Growers," having called forth numernus enquiries respecting 

 the earwig-trap, I have resolved to give your readers some information 

 on the subject, together with a few remarks on the habits and tastes of 

 the greatest of all enemies to the florist — " the earwig." 



A few years ago, having been regaling some friends in the garden 

 with Strawberries and cream, I accidentally left some pounded lump- 

 sucar, wrapped in a paper, in the arbour. About a week afterwards 

 I fnuid the sugar-paper where I had left it, and upon opening the 

 parcel, you may guess my surprise in finding, instead of sugar, a com- 

 plete mass of earwigs, as many as would fill a half-pint measure. The 

 sugar had been devoured by them, with the exception of a small 

 portion, which they were then engaged in despatching. From this 

 simiile circumstance I learned that saccharine matter was their fixvourite 

 food. Every Dahlia grower must have perceived the preference of the 

 earwig for particular varieties of Dahlias, the petals of which upon 

 examination would be found nuich sweeter to the taste than those kinds 

 they do not attack. 



The inverted flower-pot is the only article T have ever used as a 

 decoy for this insect ; I have occasionally placed some treacle at the 

 bottom of the pot, which has always proved attractive ; but the porous 

 character of the material, coupled with the heat of the sun, caused all 

 trace of the treacle soon to disappear. In June last, Mr. E. Edwards, 

 a neighbour of mine, came into my Dahlia garden, and was much 

 amused with the singular appearance of about 200 pots on the tops of 

 long sticks, which, to his view, were very unsightly. Having enquired 

 their pvu-port, he said something more effective and less obnoxious to the 

 eye might be constructed. Being a manufacturer of glass wares, he 

 asked if they could walk up the sides of a glass vessel. Not being 

 much of an entomologist, I could not answer this question. However, 

 a few days afterwards he brought me a glass vessel about the size of a 

 small tumbler, made with a cone inside, very similar to the exciseman's 

 ink-bottle. We at once caught some earwigs, and, to our astonishment, 

 they could walk up and down the sides with as much apparent ease as 

 a fly. We left them all night, and by the following morning they had 

 disappeared. The glass trap having failed, ]\Ir. Edwards turned his 

 attention to other materials, and in a few days brought me an oblong 

 tin box, with a hole at the bottom, to fit on a stick, at the same time 

 stating, that he thought he had puzzled them. Six of the interesting 

 creatures were soon consigned to their new abode, and, pleasing to 

 relate, there they all were the next morning, looking fresh and well. 

 The day follo>ving found them also there. The third revealed only four 

 livintT specimens and two skeletons, the latter being the remains of those 

 that had either died of starvation or fallen victims to the cannibal-like 

 propensities of their companions. The detention of the insect being now 

 a fact, the next question to enquire into w^as, would they of their own 

 free will enter this box ? Accordingly, some sugar was sprinkled at the 

 bottom, and the box was placed at the top of a Dahlia stick in a locality 



