62 THE GREAT EARWIG. 



1858, he also took one on the shore, close to Hengistbury Head. 

 Mr. E. Saunders found one " ou the shore at Bournemouth nearly 

 20 years ago." The Rev. J. G. Wood, in his " Insects at Home," 

 mentions one being taken, also on the beach, at Folkestone, but 

 gives no date. In the British Museum (British collection) there 

 are, I am informed, six specimens three from Stephens' collec- 

 tion, two unlabelled, and one referred to in the old catalogue of 

 the Museum (prior to 1838) as from " the Hampshire coast," and 

 placed there by Dr. Leach. Whether or not this last was the 

 original Bingley capture my informant was unable to ascertain. 

 These are all the occurrences of the insect at present known 

 to me. 



The classification of the earwigs has long been a contested 

 matter amongst entomologists, but they are now generally, I 

 believe, ranked as a sub-order, or tribe, of the order Orthoptera 

 (as Euplexoptera, Westwood), which contains but a single family, 

 the Forficulidae. The British genera of this family are 



Forficula with 14 joints in the antennse 



Labia ,,12 



Labidura 24-25 



Chelidura 12 



Of these, Forficula auricularia (common earwig), and Labia minor 

 (the little earwig), are only too common ; but Chelidura is 

 scarcely known in England. Labidura riparia (Pall.) \Forficesila 

 gigantea (Latr.)] though rare in England, is, on the Continent, 

 widely distributed ; but is a southern rather than a northern 

 species. Mr. McLachlan informs me, however, that it has been 

 taken as far north as Brittany, in France, and Berlin, in 

 Germany. It appears always to frequent the seashore, or the 

 banks of rivers, and might, therefore, as Mr. McLachlan observes, 

 be sometimes imported amongst ballast ; but, although this 

 might be the case with the reported specimen from Portland, and 

 that from Folkestone, it can scarcely be so in the others, where 

 there is no foreign traffic whatever. On the contrary, it may 

 probably be taken for a fact that the species has for many years 



