ANECHUEA. 



161 



middle of the elytra. Wings not projecting more than half the 

 length of the elytra, pale straw-yellow, with fuscous margin and 

 apex. Abdomen yellowish brown, with darker shading towards 

 the base, very broad and depressed in the d' • Last dorsal segment 

 short and transverse, black basally and fulvous apically ; at each 

 exterior angle armed with a strong conical tubercle pointing out- 

 wards. Pygidium of 6 short and obtuse. Forceps of S w'ith the 

 branches very remote at the base, rather stout, roundly trigoual, 

 with a short conical tooth near the base on the upper margin ; 

 they are directed at first gently upwards and outwards, and then, 

 at one quarter of their length, bowed strongly downwards ; at 

 about three-quarters of their length, horizontal and almost parallel 

 as far as the points which are gently hooked ; in colour reddish 

 tawny ; at the point where their direction changes from the down- 

 ward to the horizontal on the under margin there is a very blunt 

 projection (this represents a sharp tooth in another form). 



<S 2 



Length of body 9*5-11 mm. 11-13 mm. 



„ forceps 5 "5-6 ,, 3*6-4 ,, 



Kashmir : Ladak, A-^allev of the River Dras, between 9000 

 and 10,000 ft., vii. (coll. Semenov); Scinde Valley, at 7000 ft. 

 (Brit. Mtis., coll. Biirr) ; road from !Srinagar to Grilgit, at 8300 ft., 

 V. (Turin Miis.), 



Tijpe in the collection of Mr. A. P. Semenov Tian-Shansky, 

 St. Petersburg. 



The specimens from Tibet, in the British Museum, are probably 

 to be referred to this species. 



This is the only known Indian earwig that has this peculiar 

 form of forceps and yellow-spotted elytra, and so cannot be 

 confused with any other species. 



It is really the local race of A. hipimctata, which is essentially 

 paljearctic in distribution ; the typical form occurs in the mountains 

 of Europe, in the Pyrenees, Alps and Balkans ; as its distribution 

 extends westwards (Asia Minor, Urals) it tends to pass into the 

 variety orientalis of Krauss (nee Semenov), which is recorded from 

 the Crimea, Persia and Caucasus (de Bormans' record from Tibet 

 refers probably to A. zubovsJcii, which had not yet been discrimi- 

 nated). This variety overlaps A. asiaiica, Sem. ( = A. orientalis, 

 Sem.), which occurs throughout Northern and Western Asia, as 

 far egst as the Urals and lower reaches of the Volga, and as far 

 south as Persia. 



These four forms are nothing more or less than local races of 

 what we might call " overspecies," but as they have all been 

 treated as species by Semenov, it is more convenient to continue 

 to regard them as such, rather than to reduce them to the rank of 

 varieties. 



It may be useful to give the distinguishing characters. 



M 



