BULLETIN 566, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to tip of forceps it is about three-fourths of an inch in length. The 

 forceps of the male are curved into a semicircle, or slightly elongated, 

 with a tooth at the point of divergence. In the female the forceps 

 are nearly straight. 



The adults feed almost entirely on the- petals and stamens of flow- 

 ers, although many other kinds of food, such as clover, grass, terminal 

 buds of chrysanthemums, and other fall flowers, are eaten. They kill 

 and eat certain unprotected, sluggish larvse, dead flies, and the dead 

 or dying of their own species. 



In late summer the adults congregate in large numbers in crevices 

 or behind vines (fig. 7), near a good food supply. This concentration 



of large numbers of ear- 

 wigs in favorable hiding 

 places is due entirely to the 

 mating instinct. 



HIBERNATION. 



Adult males seldom live 

 over winter in Newport, 

 R. I. Nearly all of them die 

 after copulation, which oc- 

 curs in the fall, before cold 

 weather sets in. An occa- 

 sional male is found in the 

 ground with a female in the 

 late fall; these males usu- 

 ally die before spring. 



Adult females hibernate 

 in the ground from 2 to 8 

 inches below the surface. 

 Any well -drained soil is 

 suitable, either in gardens 

 or under the sod of the 



Fie. 5. 



-Dahlia plant defoliated by young 

 (Original.) 



lawns. In some cases, as has been explained, they deposit eggs just 

 before hibernating, so that this insect passes the winter in both the 

 egg and adult stages. 



Emergence from hibernation is dependent on the temperature. In 

 1916 females did not leave their hibernation quarters until the last 

 week in April. 



No migration appears to occur in the spring, except individ- 

 ual search for food. Apparently only a very small percent- 

 age of the total number of adult females is able to live over winter 

 successfully. 



