1911.] 135 



BRITISH ORTHOPTERA 



IN THE 



DALE COLLECTION. 



I. — Earwigs, Cockroaches, and Crickets. 



BY W. J. LUCAS, B.A., F.E.S. 



Reprinted from "The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," 2nd Series, Vol. xxii. 



Four drawers are sufficient to contain the Dale Collection of 

 British Orthoptera, now located in the Hope Department of the Natural 

 History Museum at Oxford. The Collection comprises a fair number of 

 insects, which, though often of much interest historically, are in many 

 cases in very poor condition. They were usually so set as to touch the 

 paper in the drawers, making it difficult to handle them with safety. 

 Prof. E. B. Poulton has lately, however, had them all staged, so that 

 it is now possible to examine them without danger. All the data with 

 the insects are referred to in these notes, even though they may 

 seem to be unimportant. Many of the specimens, unfortunately, are 

 entirely without data, and are therefore of very little value, if any, 

 to students of this important order of insects. When it seemed 

 sufficiently certain that the handwriting of the labels might be assigned 

 to J. C. or C. W. Dale, this has been stated in brackets. 



Earwigs (Forficulodea) . 

 Labidura gigantea. — This earwig now known as L. riparia, is represented 

 by four examples— a <J and a ? (1, 2) unlabelled, a $ (3) from Christchurch, 

 and a ? , (4) labelled "Ch. Ch., July, 1808 " (J. C. D's writ.). 



