274 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



success. He tells rne that on Sept. 1st, while beating birch in 

 the neighbourhood of Leatherhead, he took two males. On the 

 3rd of the same month, at Beigate, using the sweeping-net from 

 10 a.m till 3 p.m. for Hemiptera, he swept every patch of Ononis 

 he could find, but not an earwig came to the net. But when 

 beating whitethorn, hazel, &c, F. lesnei tumbled into the 

 umbrella quite corrnnonly. There were full-grown males and 

 females, as well as immature specimens. The mature males 

 were more common than the females in the same state. From 

 Mr. West's experience last season no collector of the Forficularia 

 ought to be without F. lesnei in his collection, but he must use 

 the umbrella, and not sweep Ononis as suggested in my 

 previous note. 



In connection with the same insect, Mr. W. J. Ashdown tells 

 me that this earwig has occurred in many places near Leather- 

 head during September and October, and in some localities 

 appears to replace F. auricularia. He takes them in the 

 sweeping-net, and by beating old hedges, and does not find that 

 they are attached to any one plant or shrub in particular. 

 Mr. Ashdown calls attention to the fact that in many of the 

 males the apices of the forceps are not gaping but contiguous, 

 so that this fails as a method of distinguishing the species. The 

 proportionate length of the dilated part also varies, and small 

 specimens have the forceps more elongate, though none of them 

 resemble the figure of F. pubescens that Mr. Burr gave in the 

 Ent. Mo. Mag. 1897, p. 148. The antennae of F. lesnei are 

 stated to have twelve joints, and those of F. pubescens thirteen ; 

 but this is not of much use for purposes of identification, as 

 earwigs are frequently found with their antennae a few joints 

 short, perhaps due to their occasionally carnivorous habits. 



The figures represent a mature female, and the forceps of a 

 male with the left branch deformed, which, through the kindness 

 of Mr. West, I have been able to add to my collection. Both 

 are magnified three diameters. 



November, 1898. 



A FEW NOTES ON ACIDALIA HUMILIATA, Hufn. 



By P. W. Abbott. 



Through the kindness of my friend Mr. A. J. Hodges, I 

 received, on June 29th last, eighteen ova which had been de- 

 posited on the 26th and 27th of that month by a captive female 

 taken by him in the Isle of Wight. I am also indebted to my 

 friend Mr. L. B. Prout, F.E.S., for reference to and copious 

 extracts from Sepp and from Milliere, from the former of .whom 



