256 Mr. M. Burr— iVo^es on the Forficularia. 



Westwood (3) erected the genus Apterygida in 1839 for 

 those species of Forjicula which had rudimentary wings, i. e. 

 j)edestr{s, Bon., and decifiens^ G^ne, which fell into Section h. 

 Division II. of Gdn^'s (2) arrangement of the genus. Now 

 Scudder is quite correct in saying that decipiens cannot be 

 generically separated from auricularia, which is the type of 

 Forjicula, but pedesb'is, Bon. [=ialbipennis, Meg.), can, and 

 must ; albi^jennis is the type of Ajderygida. It is true 

 tliat Westwood established the genus upon the comparative 

 development of the wings, which in Forficularia and Ortho- 

 ptera generally is now a notoriously variable and untrust- 

 worthy character ; but the shape of the forceps quite justifies 

 tlie separation of alhipennis from Forficula^ and as there was 

 a genus to hand, of which it was the type, de Bormans's (7) 

 SphingoJahis, 1884, is unnecessary. 



Of this new genus, which corresponds with Dohrn's (4) 

 Section I. of Fmficula, the type is/?frc(/e/-a, Borm. ; but albi- 

 jjcnnis also falls into Section J. of Dohrn's Forficula, with the 

 type albipennis; the two genera, then, coincide exactly, and 

 Apterygida, being the earliest, must stand. The name is 

 unfortunate, but its significance must be forgotten, for it is 

 owing to the forceps, and not to the wings, as originally 

 intended, that it holds good. Sphingolabis may be retained 

 for those species which have complete wings or those which 

 liave a considerable pygidium, as a subgenus. I am aware 

 that M. de Bormans retains Sphingolabis, for he holds that 

 Apterygida cannot stand, as erected upon insufficient 

 characters. 



Apterygida albipennis (Meg.) and the closely allied 

 A. arachidis (Yers.) were included by Brunner (6) in Cheli- 

 dura, Latr. ; but this genus must be reserved for those large 

 and heavy flightless forms in which the abdomen is somewhat 

 dilated and the forceps are strong and very stout. 



The genera in question must therefore stand as follows : — 



Forficula, L. (1), 1758. Type auriculariaj L. 



Apterygida, Westw. (3), 1839. Type albipennis, Meg. 



[ISphingolabis, Borm. (7), 1884^ as subgenus. Type 

 Jurcifera.) 



Chelidura, Latr., 1825. Type aptera, Charp. 



Worhs quoted above. 



(1) 1758. LiNN^us. — ' Systema Naturse,' ed. x. i. 423. 



(2) 1832. Gene. — ' Saggio di una Monogratia delle Forficule indigene.' 



Padova. (Ann. delle Scieuze del liegno Lombardo- 

 Veneto, t. ii. p. 215.) 



