Os 
GS 
ido) 
of Forficula auricularia. 
Maternal care of the eggs. 
The eggs of earwigs laid in the wild state are usually found in 
a little pit excavated and covered in about an inch below the 
surface, or else in convenient crevices in vegetation. In the cells 
and flower pots in which the Round Island females were kept most 
of the clutches were laid on the surface of the coconut fibre, but 
in many cases the mother protected them by a thin covering of 
fibre so that they lay in a small pit immediately under the surface. 
Whether she made the excavation before or after oviposition was 
not ascertained, the act of laying itself was not observed in any 
ease. There is no doubt that the mother watches over the eggs, 
as has been stated by various authors, but the assertion, made 
from time to time, that she guards the young seems to have no 
foundation. The newly hatched are active and begin feeding in 
-a few hours, possibly less, after becoming free from the egg 
membrane, while the mother displays no interest in them. Before 
hatching her behaviour is very different. The female either covers 
the little pile of eggs with her body or else keeps her head towards 
them with the antennae playing over them. Possibly the second 
attitude is the result of her being disturbed rather than the natural 
one. If driven away from the pile of eggs, for they are usually laid 
in a heap resembling a pile of round-shot, in a few minutes she has 
returned and is seen diligently bringing the eggs together with 
the first pair of legs. This accords with Camerano’s observation * 
quoted in my previous paper. 
Hatching. | 
This was observed in the case of two clutches of eggs. Shortly 
before rupture of the egg membrane the position of the head is 
seen easily by the black eyes, the only pigmented part of the 
young earwig, showing through the membrane. The young 
appears to bite through the latter and it comes out head first, 
aiding its emergence with the first pair of legs. As more of the 
body is freed the other legs in succession push away the egg 
‘membrane. In more than one case there was evidently great 
difficulty in discarding the membrane, which was eventually done 
by catching it against obstructions. 
* Boll. d. Soc. Hntom. Ital., 1880, p. 46. 
VOL. XVII. PT. Iv. 23 
