34 



FOKFICESILA* 



1831. Serv. (ex Latr.), Ann. Sc. Nat., xxii, 32: gigantea Latr. 



Under the Gallic name Forficesile this genus was proposed ■without 

 mention of species and without further description than " ailes " by 

 Latreille in his Families du Regne Animal, 410 (1825). ' Later, in 

 Cuvier's Regne Animal, 2e ed., V, 173 (1829), still using the French 

 name, he refers to it the winged species with more than 14 joints 

 to their antennae ; gigantea alone is specified. Serville therefore 

 uses it wholly in the Latreillean sense. Since then (Serville, Dolirn) 

 it has always been used in the same sense, but as gigantea was the 

 type of Labidura as early as 1815, this generic name must fall 

 before it.* 



FORFICULA. 



1758. Linn., Syst. Nat., Ed. x, i, 423: founds the earliest of the 

 genera of Forficulariie upon the species described as auricularia 

 and minor. 

 1810. Latr., Consid., 433, specifies auricularia as the type. 



In this sense, whether used in a more or less restricted manner, 

 the name has always been employed. Dohrn divides it into three 

 sections, according to peculiarities of the male forceps; perhaps bet- 

 ter characters would be found in the pygidium or in the relative po- 

 sition of the middle legs. Tlie genus is by far the richest in species 

 of any of the Forliculariae, and is more widely spread than any, be- 

 ing found in almost every place where Forficularise occur, and on 

 every continent. The genus happily retains the oldest name in the 

 group, and has given its name to the family. Several species have 

 been found in the European Tertiaries. 



LABIA. 



1815. Leach, Edinb. Encyc, ix, 118: founds this genus upon minor 

 Linn., which therefore becomes the type. 



Whenever since used it has always been in this sense. Serville 

 does not refer to it in any way either in 1831 or 1839. 



The genus should be placed in juxtaposition to Forficula and not 

 be separated from it, as Dohrn has done, by the interposition of Spa- 

 ratta, Chelisoches, Ancistrogaster and Opisthocosniia. It differs from 

 Forficula principally in the simple character of its middle tarsal joint 

 and in the shorter nioniliform joints of the antennae. It is numerous 



