184 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



P. americana is again larger than P, australasice, and, like 

 that insect, fully winged in both sexes. It has not the yellow 

 mark along the costa, nor the distinct yellow ring round the 

 pronotum, and in general the insect has a more suffused appear- 

 ance. The cerci are different in shape from those of the last. 

 It is a great nuisance on ships, and is found in most continental 

 ports, while several English ones have also been invaded by it. 

 In the Zoological Gardens, London, it is extremely abundant, 



while it has also turned up in 

 Kew Gardens, the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society's Gardens, and 

 at Covent Garden Market. Be- 

 ing omnivorous it is always a 

 pest, and, as the specific name 

 implies, it is a native of America 

 (perhaps imported thither from 

 Asia). 



Lately one or two specimens 

 of another cosmopolitan cock- 

 roach, very dark in colour, have 

 been found. This is Leucophaa 

 surinamensis (fig. 42). Two 



Fig. 42 Leucoph.ea surinamensis. had previously been taken at 



Bognor, probably imported in 

 oananas, and it appears to be breeding at Kew. 



Coming to the earwigs, we have at once some of the best 

 known, the most graceful, and the most interesting of British 

 insects. That they inflict considerable injury upon certain 

 plants there can be little doubt ; but that they are not as bad as 

 they are usually painted I am firmly convinced. The fact is 

 they are not strict vegetarians, and will frequently forsake the 

 petals of flowers and the interior of fruits for a diet of larva? or 

 small snails. Though not wishing to defend the marauding 

 propensities of the little insects, yet it is hardly fair to speak of 

 their failings, and leave their good deeds unrecorded. Two 

 species are common here— Forficula auricularia, which is 

 ubiquitous, and Labia minor. The other five species are very 

 scarce. Especial interest centres around earwigs from the fact 

 that they are the only insects which take any care of the eggs 

 when laid. They even go to the extent of removing them to a 



