320 Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr. 1909. 



Note on the Classification of the JDermaptera. 



By Malcolm Barr, 



B. A., F. E. S., F. L. S., F. Z. S., Eastry, Kent (England). 



(With Plate IV.j 



In the course of the close examination of a relatively im- 

 mense amount of material with the object of building up a uni- 

 form Classification of the Dermaptera out of the empirical arrange- 

 ment of de Bormans and the half finished revolutionary proposals 

 of Verhoeff, I am gradually beginning to see a System shaping 

 itself. In Order that the final arrangement may meet with the 

 approval of the majority of Dermapterists , and in the hope of 

 stimulating criticism I publish the following outline of my scheme 

 as it Stands at present. 



These notes make no pretence of finality, their avowed ob- 

 ject being to invite suggestions in the hope that a comparison 

 of opinions and of experience may facilitate the construction 

 of a System that will win the approval of the greater number, 

 if not all, of the few entomologists whe are at present working 

 upon Dermaptera. 



I shall eagerly welcome all criticisnis , however severe, all 

 notes , observations and suggestions , and I earnestly beg all 

 Dermapterists to come to the rescue and give me the benefit of 

 their opinions and of their suggestions, both on the details and 

 on the general scheme outlined in the following notes. 



Some of the characters employed may be unfamiliar to 

 many workers ; where necessary I have added a parenthesis ex- 

 plaining them. 



There is no doubt that Verhoeff, carried away by his ent- 

 husiasm in the first attempt to subdivide the Dermaptera into 

 groups, went too far, and erected too many families. 



Taking füll advantage of the suggestive work of the erudite 

 German entomologist , I propose to divide the earwigs into the 

 five families as follows : 



1. Abdominis segmentum anale in processum deplanatum ac 

 dilatatum , cum pygidio confluens , inter forcipis bracchia 

 valde productum. (Corpus valde depressum ; antennae multo- 

 segmentatae; scutellummagnumpatens.) Fam. 1. Äpachyidae. 



1. 1. Abdominis segmentum anale haud valde productum, processu 

 multo efficiens ^). 



1) An approach , however , to this condition, is seen in the geiius 

 Gonolabina q. v. 



