76 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



In their habits these insects greatly resemble the common 

 earwig ; but when approached they turn up their abdomen 

 in the manner of the large Staphylini, bending the extremity 

 quite over the head, which they defend by means of their 

 enormous forceps. The largest he could procure was nearly 

 fifteen lines in length ( = about 30 mm.), exclusive of the antennse, 

 which measured somewhat more than half an inch. 



Mr. Sloman, who lived at Wick, and old Lochyer, of Christ- 

 church, accompanied my father and Mr. Dashwood to the same 

 spot — Mount Misery — in 1818, but with no success. 



Upon what was once a most dreary and desolate spot now 

 stands the rising seaside resort of Southbourne-upon-Sea. 



This earwig came to be reckoned amongst the extinct British 

 species (its native origin being actually questioned by the Eev. 

 W. Kirby in his 'Introduction to Entomology') until 1865, when 

 a few were taken on the shore close to Hengisbury Head by Mr. 

 Dossetor. The next was taken near the pier at Bournemouth, by 

 Mr. E. Saunders, in 1874. 



Mr. Kemp-Welch, in an article on the great earwig (' Trans- 

 actions ' of Dorset Field Club, vol. viii. p. 61), records and figures 

 a specimen in his possession as having been taken on the beach 

 under Branksome Park, some two miles westward from Bourne- 

 mouth, within the limits of Dorsetshire, on the 27th of May, 

 1886, by Mr. E. Lovett, of Croydon. The Eev. J. G. Wood, in 

 his ' Insects at Home,' mentions one as having been taken, also 

 on the beach, at Folkestone, but gives no date. 



Like the common earwig, the large one appears to conceal 

 itself as much as jDossible in the daytime, probably in chinks 

 and crannies of the cliffs, and only emerges at the approach of 

 evening to seek its food, which consists probably of the various 

 small animals, molluscous and otherwise, that are left on the 

 shore by the tide. 



It is widely distributed on the Continent, and has been taken 

 as far north as Brittany and Berlin, but appears always to 

 frequent the sea- shore or the banks of rivers. It also occurs in 

 Asia, Africa, and America. 



Chelidura alhipennis, Meg. — The only examples of this species 

 were taken in a nursery garden at Ashford, in Kent, in June, 

 1832, by Professor Westwood. 



Forficula lesnei, Finot. — Under the two names of pubescens, 

 Gene, and decipieyis, Gene, this species first appeared as British 

 in a ' List of British Euplexoptera, Orthoptera, Thysanoptera, 

 and Hemiptera,' compiled by Mr. Walker in 1860. It was first 

 taken by my father at Charmouth in Sej^tember, 1837. He also 

 found it near Weymouth and at Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight, 

 and I have found it besides at Bournemouth, Sidmouth, Falmouth, 

 and in the Scilly Isles. It hibernates in the stems of the common 

 reed. Under the name decipiens, Gene (Weekly Entomologist, 



II 



