96 THE entomologist's record. 



young spurs breaking from the twig itself, while the notched sienna 

 head and projecting prothoracic segment, made a crown of bud casings 

 to the life. From this period until the going to earth of the larva? 

 there was practically no change in their appearance, but the warty 

 character of the excrescences from the dorsal and lateral regions became 

 more emphatic, and the entire creature grew stronger in character on 

 the lines last described. It spent its time between the periods of feed- 

 ing, which appeared to be principally nocturnal, in sitting at rest upon 

 the woody part of the food-plant, firmly holding on by the claspers, 

 the body springing from this attachment to almost an angle of 45° 

 from the stem on which it rested. The legs were projected 

 and rather extended, the head carried forward and tilted. From the 

 head to a prominence on the food-plant above was spun a stiff and very 

 visible thread, which was always taut when the larva was quiet. They 

 lived in this condition until they had arrived at a length of If inches 

 when they appeared to be full-fed and prepared to descend for pupation 

 in the earth. There had been nine emergences from the ova and two 

 casualties followed. The remaining seven descended in the following 

 order. June 10th, two, 11th, four, 12th, one. They had been fed, 

 airtight, in a roomy tin case half filled with earth, and freely supplied 

 .wdth fresh oak twias. 



Some notes on the classification of earwigs. 



By MALCOLM BUEE, B.A., F.L.S. 



The study of earwigs has been unduly neglected by all entomolo- 

 gists, except a few orthopterists, and most, even of these, have 

 eventually given them up in favour of the other suborders of Orthoptera. 

 The only real specialist who has as yet devoted himself entirely to 

 their study, and that finally to the exclusion of all other insects, has 

 been de Bormans. The reason may be that they are, as a rule, more 

 or less unattractive insects, offering few really convenient characters, 

 and practically no really stable or unvarying ones. The result is that 

 generic distinctions are somewhat arbitrary, and often depend upon the 

 personal views of the author. Several genera can only be recognised 

 in the male, and though these may appear to be very distinct when, 

 say, half a dozen species of each are examined, still intermediate forms 

 are continually being discovered, which can be ranged appropriately in 

 two, or perhaps, even three, genera. 



The first character, for example, which is examined, is the 

 scutellum, according to the presence or absence of \\hich the Forficu- 

 laria are divided into two groups, but yet this extremely important 

 point cannot be depended upon. In one genus, Pyntiira, the scutellum 

 is normally not visible, and the genus accordingly is ranged in the 

 second group, but, very frequently, the scutellum is free and easily 

 noticeable ; de Borinans has examined over 150 specimens, and found 

 the scutellum present nearly as often as it is absent. In many sub- 

 apterous genera, again, such as ^culohnpliora, (helidiiict, &c., falling in 

 the second group, owing to the incomplete development of the elytra 

 a small space is distinguishable between the elytra at the base of 

 the suture, which is, in fact, a scutellum, but this has to be disregarded 

 in classification. 



The most important, and apparently invariable, character, is the 



