MORSE: ORTHOPTERA OF NEW ENGLAND. 295 
European Earwig. 
Forficula auricularia Linne. 
Plate 13, fig. 1-5. 
Forficula auricularia Linne, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 423 (1758). — 
Walden, Bull. Geol. Nat. Hist. Surv. Ct., no. 16, p. 46 (1911).— Cau- 
DELL, Joum. N. Y. Ent. Soc, vol. 15, p. 170 (1907).— Jones, U. S. Dept. 
Agric, Bull. 566, p. 1-12 (1917). 
Antennae 11- to 14-segmented, brown, about two-thirds as long 
as body. Pronotum shield-shaped, front margin straight, sides 
straight and parallel, rounding smoothly into hind margin which is 
strongly convex. Tegmina about one and one-third times as long 
as pronotum; exposed part of wings half as long as tegmina. 
Glandular tubercles on sides of terga of abdominal segments 3 
and 4 (second and third visible). Anal plate ofj male twice as 
wide as long, quadrate, with a pair of low, broad, rounded eleva- 
tions near hind margin equidistant from margin and mid-line; 
lateral margins strongly compressed, reflexed upward; hind mar- 
gin slightly bisinuately convex. Anal plate of female a little 
narrowed behind, the details of conformation described for the 
male less pronounced. 
Forceps of male arcuate, caliper-like from wide and flat bases; 
the outer margin sinuate, the inner margin armed at base with 
several small teeth, a large and prominent one at the quarter or 
third, directed backward and inward. The males are dimorphic 
in length of forceps, one series averaging about 4 mm., the other 
about 7 mm. Forceps of female but little depressed at base, inner 
margins straight, attingent, the tips a little arcuate, delicately 
pointed. Forceps of nymph slender throughout, not widened at 
base, sinuate, less acutely pointed at tip than in the female. 
Color varying widely from yellowish to fuscous, usually darkest 
on the sides of the abdomen and disk of pronotum; the head, legs, 
and forceps usually paler; the sides of the disk of the pronotum, 
sides of exposed portion of wings, and variable amounts of the 
sides and dorsum of pronotum pallid or luteous. 
Measurements. 
Body (without forceps) Width Forceps Tegmina Antenna 
Male 10-14 3-4 3.4-4 2.5-3 6-9 
7 -9 
Female 9.5-14 3-4 3-4 2.5-3 6-7 mm. 
2.5 
