172 EEPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



the inner edge. Last ventral segment of male with a slender, apical, 

 compressed, upcurved tubercle. The entire body is covered with 

 fine, soft, yellowish hairs. 



Color: Head and sides of abdomen nearly black; mouth parts, 

 antenriae, thorax, tcgmina, exposed parts of wings and middle of 

 upper side of abdomen, yellowish brown; last segment of abdomen 

 and forceps, reddish Ijrowu; legs and last two joints of the antennae, 

 honey yellow. 



Measurements: Male, length of body, 5 mm.; of antennoe, 3.2 mm.; 

 of tegmina, 2 mm.; of forceps, 2 mm. 



An:hough the range of this little earwig is said to cover Europe and 

 the United States, and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, I failed 

 to detect it in Indiana until May 12, 1903, when I took a single male 

 from beneath the bark about the base of a sweet gum tree near Grand 

 Chain, Posey County. It doubtless occurs throughout the State, but 

 is overlooked on account of its small size. A close search about elec- 

 tric lights in the cities and towns of the State will doubtless reveal its 

 presence in numbers. 



Family BLATTID.E. 



The members of the family BJattidcc, commonly known as cock- 

 roaches, may be known from the other families of Orthoptera by their 

 depressed, oval form; by their nearly horizontal head which is bent 

 under and almost concealed by the broad pronotum, so that when at 

 rest the mouth projects back between the bases of the first pair of 

 legs; by their slender depressed legs of equal length and size; and by 

 the absence of either ovipositor or forcipate appendages at the end 

 of the abdomen. The ocelli are usually but two in number and the 

 tarsi are 5-jointed. 



The pronotum is generally transverse or shield-shaped, with 

 rounded angles. The rings of the abdomen overlap each other and 

 are capable of great extension and depression, so that these insects 

 seem to be pre-eminently fitted for living in the narrow crevices and 

 cracks which they inhabit. The legs are of peculiar structure in that 

 they are long and more or less flattened, thus enabling the cock- 

 roaches to run with surprising swiftness, so that the family has been 

 placed by some writers in a separate sub-order, the Cursoria, or run- 

 ners. The wing covers, or tegmina, are leatbery, translucent, and 

 v;hcn well developed, overlap when at rest; while the wings never 

 exceed the tegmina in length, and in some cases are rudimentary or 

 even wanting. 



