40 
KARWIGS. 
Lesser Earwig. Forficula minor, Linn.; Labia minor, Leach. 
1 2 EGE. 
Lapra minor.—1, male; 2, female with wings expanded, much magnified; line 
showing natural length of body and forceps. 
On April 20th I received, by favour of the editor of ‘The Farming 
World,’ specimens of a small kind of Harwig, together with the 
enquiry :— 
‘‘Can your entomologist tell me what sort of insect pest this 
is, . . . and what would exterminate them from the hot frames where 
young plants are being struck at present? They seem to come from 
the manure, are in immense numbers, and actually clear off entirely 
such young growths as they attack.” 
On examination, the insects proved to be specimens of the Lesser 
Karwig, Forficula minor of Linneeus, now placed in the genus Labia 
of Leach. 
Fully detailed descriptions of the insect will be found in the works 
referred to below,* and the following notes of the chief characteristics 
of the insect I have mainly abridged from the description by Fischer. 
This is the smallest of the European species; the length of the 
body only about the fifth of an inch or slightly more; of the nippers 
or tail-forceps of the male about the twelfth of an inch, of the female 
rather less. The general colour testaceous, and the insect downy. 
Head black; horns (antenne) fuscous, 10-18-jointed, with the lowest 
joint and those at the extremity often quite pale. Upper part of the 
body next the head (pronotum) somewhat square, at the hinder part 
* Fischer, ‘Orthoptera Europa,’ p. 70, 1853; also ‘ Ortopteros de Espana y 
Portugal,’ por Ignacio Bolivar, pp. 26, 27; Madrid, 1878. 
