hy birds of the Common Earivig (Forficula auricnlaria) 171 



Kristiania, 1916, mentions that in many parts of Norway different 

 vegetables, cabbage in particular, were extensively damaged by 

 F. auricularia. Tullgren, in a report on injurious animals in 

 Sweden during 1912 — 1916 (Aleddelande frdn Centrcdanstalten 

 for Jorshruksforsok, no. 152 ; Entomologiska Avdelningen, no. 27, 

 p. 104), records damage by F. auricidaria to ornamental plants, 

 barley, wheat, and cabbage. In the case of the invasion of New- 

 port, R.I., by the Common Earwig, Jones {op. cit.) reports that the 

 quite young individuals eat tender shoots of clover and grass, and 

 possibly grass roots ; while later on shoots of Lima Bean and dahlia 

 and blossoms of Sweet William and early roses are attacked, with 

 a general preference for the bases of petals and stamens rather 

 than for green shoots. Adults are recorded as feeding almost wholly 

 on petals and stamens, though clover, grass and terminal buds of 

 chrysanthemums and other "fall flowers" are also devoured. Sopp, 

 "The Callipers of Earwigs" {Lanes, and dies. Entom. Soc. Proc. 

 1904, p. 42), records having seen a female earwig using her forcipes 

 to repeatedly pierce damp decaying seaweed on which she was 

 apparently feeding. Ltistner {Centralhl. Bakt. Parnsit. u. Infektions- 

 krankheiten, XL. nos. 19-21, Jena, April 1914, p. 482) has summa- 

 rised the work of over thirty observers of the contents of the crop 

 of the Common Earwig. Altogether 162 individuals were thus 

 examined, and the conclusion was arrived at that earwigs normally 

 feed on dead portions of plants and on fungi such as Gapnodium, 

 living leaves and flowers being attacked when circumstances 

 favoured the change. Dahlia leaves and petals were very readily 

 devoured. How far earwigs are a pest to ripe fruit seems not to 

 have been investigated, but it was concluded that as a rule they 

 may be regarded as harmless save in special cases. It was admitted 

 however that the further the enquiry went the less definite were 

 the results. 



In view of the diversity of reports as to the favourite food 

 plants of earwigs and the general want of exact information as to 

 the damage likely to be done by earwigs in a flower or kitchen 

 garden I carried out a small series of observations on the earwigs 

 obtained last August from St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, which were 

 kept in captivity in the Zoological Laboratory for some weeks, 

 primarily for the purpose oj" examining their alimentary canal for 

 parasites. These earwigs, several dozen in number, were kept in 

 a large glass dish bedded with sand slightly damped occasionally. 

 They had no animal food save that afforded by those which died. 

 In order to obtain information as to preference for one kind of 

 plant above another they were given three different species, taken 

 haphazard, at a time for a period of two days or more. 



A summary of the results is as follows : — 



Aug. 20 and 21. Vegetable marrow leaves were ver\' much 



