334 Mr Brindley, The proportions of the sexes, ete. 
an argument against wind-carriage being an important factor in 
distributing them. Though uninhabited it is frequently visited 
by man, so that from time to time earwigs must be imported 
accidentally. It may be that this insect is a parallel case with — 
that of cockroaches, which are apt to occur in vast numbers in one 
spot and yet spread slowly from village to village and even from 
house to house. The expectation is, however, that earwigs as 
indigenous Kuropean insects living normally in the open would 
spread more easily than cockroaches, which for the most part seem — 
to have followed man from warmer regions. Annet is the island — 
specially chosen by puffins as their breeding place: it is just — 
possible that in some unknown way the presence of this bird is 
inimical to earwigs. 
We had no opportunity of searching the Eastern Isles lying 
between St Martin’s and St Mary’s. All are small, but many of 
them have turf and plenty of other vegetation. 
The present study of the earwigs of the Scilly Isles as a whole 
does no more than bring to light the facts recited, but they suggest 
that the group is a favourable and easily accessible locality for 
a full investigation as to sex-inheritance, influence of parasites and — 
of environmental conditions. 
About eight earwigs were taken, most of them on St Martin’s, — 
which were infested by a large Nematode or Gordiid worm, at 
present unidentified. This worm had its two ends hidden in the 
abdomen and its coiled body projecting from between the terga, 
which were much forced apart. The hosts seemed fairly active 
and well nourished. 
In the latter part of August the earwigs of the Scilly Islands 
are, as on the mainland, nearly all adult. Nymphs were collected 
by us, but not with so much care as the adults; their smaller size 
renders them more difficult to secure. 
