78 Dr. M Burr — Notes on the Forficularia. 



delalandei hoettgeri. The Geckos of Tenerife, Palnia, Gomera, 

 and Hierro must be included in Tarentola delalandei delalandei^ 

 Dura, et Bibr., although there is a o-ood deal of local varia- 

 tion ; specimens from Tenerife and Palma are fully identical, 

 in those from Gomera there occur many in which the dorsal 

 tubercles are whitish grey ; the Geckos from Hierro are, as 

 a rule, more different, and more approach T. d. hoettgeri^ 

 Steind. These differences, however, seem to us to be too 

 slight to be of subspecific importance. 



XIT. — Notes on the Forficularia.— XXTI. Notes on the Wing- 

 venation hi the Dermaptera. By ]\Ialcolm Burr, D.Sc, 

 F.E.S., &c. 



[Plates III.-V.] 



The beauty of the earwig wing has long been a favourite 

 theme of writers on Natural History, but it was only 

 so recently as 1911 that any attempt was made to employ 

 its structure as a taxonomic character. This was in a 

 chapter in Zacher's important paper on the genitalia in the 

 Protodermaptera (" Studien liber das System der Protoder- 

 maptereu,'' Zool. Jahrb. xxx. p. 303, 1911), a work which we 

 shall have occasion to discuss in greater detail elsewhere. 



The difficulty of opening and mounting this extremely 

 delicate organ has been the chief obstacle, but it must be 

 remembered, too, that very many genera are totally apterous. 

 Still, it is most probable that very useful characters may be 

 found in the venation. 



The earwig wing resembles that of the Gryllid genus 

 TiidactyJus, and of the Phasmids, in that the anal area is 

 enormously developed at the expense of their other parts. 

 In the earwig wing there are five distinct portions. 



The marginal area is a small, narrow, acuminate field at 

 the base of the anterior margin ; it contains no veins. 



The squama is the chitinised portion which usually pro- 

 trudes from beneath the elytra when at rest, and is generally 

 of the same texture and coloration as the elytra themselves. 

 It is narrower at the base and dilated towards the apex. 



Beyond the squama, and separated from it by a vertical 

 hinge, is the lanceolate apical area. These three portions 

 between them occupy almost the whole of the costal margin 

 of the wins:. 



