50 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



it must be remembered that it cannot fly, and therefore to con- 

 tinue the species the male must find the female by help of its 

 legs alone — a state of things which hardly points to the insect 

 being extremely rare. Consequently coleopterists, and others 

 who use a sweeping-net, would do well to examine more closely 

 any earwigs that may be captured. 



F. lesnei sufficiently resembles F. auricularia to shew it to be 

 a Forficula, while the pale colour, absence of wings, and shape 

 of forceps would readily distinguish it from the common species. 

 Four other wingless earwigs have been recorded for Britain, but 

 of these two — Anisolabis maritima and A. annulipes — have not 

 even wing-cases, while the other two — Apterygida albipennis and 

 .4. arachidis — are much smaller insects. Moreover, not one of 

 the four, possibly excepting albipennis, is, I think, likely to be 

 found in a wild state in this country. The male F. lesnei differs 

 from F. piibescens in the shape of the forceps. In the former 

 the free, curved, forked parts are equal in length to the flattened 

 contiguous parts ; while in the latter species the curved parts 

 are much less than half the total length of the forceps. In 

 F. lesnei, also, the curved ends of the forceps do not nearly meet, 

 as they do in F. pubescens. 



Chelisoches morio, Fabr. 



Chelisoches morio is a casual visitor in this country, and 

 cannot with any justice be called a British insect. The two 

 specimens figured, three times natural size (Plate I. figs. 2 and 3), 

 were taken in Kew Gardens, whither they came in sugar-cane 

 from Mauritius in August, 1894. Being somewhat cosmopolitan, 

 however, the species may perhaps be met with here again. It is 

 widely distributed in the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, 

 and some of the neighbouring countries. 



C. morio is a large, bulky, shining-black earwig, with fully 

 developed wing-cases and wings. The antennae are of about 

 seventeen joints, and black in colour, except two joints near the 

 tip. The legs are black, with the exception of the tarsi, which 

 are pale yellowish brown, and of which the second joint is 

 extended as a lobe below the third. The male forceps are 

 stout, especially at the base ; those of the female are long and 

 pointed. 



February 16th, 1898. 



