202 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[November 2, 1891. 



Fig. 5.— Little 

 Earwig (Labia 

 minor), male. 

 Magnified four 

 diameter.^. 



{Fnificula tiuiiciiliiiid]. A word or two may now be said 

 about the remaining British members of the family. The 

 only other that is at all common is that called the 

 Little Earwig (Labia iiiivor), (Fig. 5), a much smaller 

 insect, easily distinguished by that featm-e 

 alone. It is a flat little thing, hardly 

 more than a quarter of an inch long, 

 forceps and all, of a yellowish-brown colour, 

 with darker head and antenn*, and pale 

 straw-coloured sprawling legs. For some 

 reason not very easy to discover, it 

 manages to do with only ten or twelve 

 joints to its antennif. instead of the fifteen 

 of the larger species, and the last two of 

 these are, equally inexplicably, of a pale 

 yellow colour, the rest being deep brown. 

 The forceps of the male differ greatly from 

 those of the larger species, and are much 

 less elegant. At the point where they join 

 the body they are widely separated from one 

 another, instead of being nearly contiguous ; 

 they are only slightly curved, and have no teeth on the 

 inner edge. The forceps of the female, on the other hand, 

 are very similar to those possessed by the same sex in 

 Forjinila auricularia. This little insect is not nearly so 

 retiring in its habits as its larger relative. Its wings are 

 rather larger in proportion to its body, and it is much 

 more ready to use them. It may be found flying, even in 

 the daytime, about gardens and dunghills, and so little 

 fears the neighbourhood of man that it is sometimes met 

 with in busy streets, flying, or running about on the 

 pavement at the imminent risk of its life from the feet of 

 passers-by. About midsummer is the best time to find 

 the Little Earwig ; it is not nearly so plentiful as the larger 

 species, though fairly common, and it probably does but 

 little damage. 



In great contrast to this little creature is the Giant 

 Earwig {hiihidura rijiaria), which is as rare as either of 

 the other two is common. It is a tine large insect, over 

 an inch long, of a reddish-yellow colour. Its size alone is 

 sufticient to distinguish it from almost all our other 

 species. It was first recorded as a British insect in 1808, 

 when the Rev. W. Bingley found it in some numbers near 

 Christchttrch, Hants. This seems to have been its head- 

 quarters, but it spread east and west from this locality, 

 and the places at which it has since been captured 

 range along the south coast from Dorsetshire to Kent. 

 The last recorded specimen was taken five years ago on 

 the coast of Dorsetshire. As the insect seems to have 

 been plentiful when first discovered, it is possible that it 

 may still be existing in greater numbers than the records of 

 its capture would lead us to infer ; and those who live in 

 the region of its former metropolis should keep a sharp 

 look-out, especially near high-water mark and towards 

 evening, when they may perhaps gain an introduction to 

 stray individuals of this fine species, as they come out for 

 their nightly foraging. The forceps of the male have a 

 large tooth on their inner side like those of the Common 

 Earwig, but it is situated nearer the tip. 



Besides this rare southerner, there is also a still rarer 

 northerner, AnmAalis uuiritimn by name, which was foimd 

 at South Shields in 1850, by that indefatigable entomo- 

 logist, Mr. T. J. Bold. As it was discovered so near a port 

 and had not been met with elsewhere. Mr. Bold thought 

 that it had been introduced by shipping; but as he foimd 

 a young one in the autumn, it would seem that the species 

 had begim to make itself at home by establishing a nursery, 

 and had settled down, at least for a time. It is rather 

 larger than the Common Earwig and differs also in colour. 



being dark blackish -brown above and yellowish beneath. 

 But its most striking point of difference is the entire 

 absence of wing-covers and wings, a peculiarity which 

 makes it look like an overgrown larva. The forceps of the 

 male are remarkable in being unequally curved, whereby 

 they acquire an aspect of deformity ; the right branch is 

 more curved than the left. Whether this insect has per- 

 manently established itself on British soil and is still to 

 be met with in the neighbourhood of its first appearance, 

 or whether it has found the chmate uncongenial, or the 

 accommodation unsuitable, and has therefore yielded to 

 the force of circumstances and become extinct, so far as 

 our own country is concerned, is not definitely kno^-n. Here 

 then is an opportunity for our north country friends to 

 distinguish themselves by the re-discovery of the wingless 

 Earwig of South Shields. 



The next species is Fnrjiculn laihcscois, a. yellowish-brown 

 insect, smaller than its close ally, the Common Earwig. 

 Scarcely anything is yet known of the distribution of this 

 insect in Britain, and as there are very few people who 

 take the trouble to record the doings of such despised 

 things as Earwigs, it may be long before more definite 

 information is obtained. It is a south European species, 

 but it has been recorded from some places on the Dorset- 

 shire coast, and might very likely turn up in other 

 localities as well, if only properly looked for. It is in an 

 intermediate condition between the last-mentioned insect 

 and the Common Earwig, having wing-covers indeed, but 

 scarcely anything worth calling wings for them to cover ; 

 and thus we see that though the number of British Ear- 

 wigs is so small, they are, nevertheless, an exceedingly 

 interesting collection, since they represent the chief varia- 

 tions of form we might expect to find in a single family of 

 insects. 



Our sixth and last species is another pale and rare 

 one called Chelidiira aJliiprntiis. Here again we have 

 a wingless Earwig ; its wing-covers are perfectly formed, 

 but they protect no wings, and consequently the insect 

 cannot fly. It is very variable in size, sometimes only 

 sUghtly longer than the Little Earwig, at others much 

 bigger ; its body and forceps are both hairy. It is widely 

 distributed on the Continent, and in England has been 

 caught by Professor Westwood at Ashford. As these 

 various species of wingless Earwigs have in all cases 

 perfectly developed forceps, it seems pretty plain that 

 whatever aid these instruments may sometimes render in 

 the manipulation of the wings, such a ftmction can neither 

 be the only, nor indeed the chief use of them, else they 

 would in the apterous forms have followed the wings into 

 a state of abortion. Xor can we imagine a sensory use 

 for them, such as was suggested for the two pointed styles 

 of the house cricket, and possibly for the two spindle- 

 shaped organs similarly situated in the cockroach : the 

 Earwig's forceps are too hard for anything of this kind, 

 and we are thrown back, therefore, on the hypothesis that 

 their chief function is that of an offensive and defensive 

 armature. 



Notwithstanding their retiring habits, Earwigs do not 

 escape from the attacks of parasites. Westwood states 

 that there is a kind of ichneumon fly which attacks the 

 Common Earwig, depositing eggs in its body, the contents 

 of which are devoured by the larva^ hatched from them ; 

 and I have myself found a large fleshy maggot, apparently 

 that of a flesh- eating Dipterous fly, inside the body of a 

 full-grown Earwig. Internal insect parasites such as 

 these, whether Hymenopterous. like the ichneumon fly, 

 or Dipterous, like the maggot above referred to, when 

 attacking insects which pass through a complete metamor- 

 phosis, usually become mature while their host is in the 



