The TO0HG RAT8BAMST: 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



Part 84. DECEMBER, 1886. Vol. 7. 



OUR BRITISH ORTHOPTERA. 



By C. W. DALE. 



THIS is rather a singular order, for out of 54 species recorded as British, 

 only 36 can be considered truly as such. With four exceptions, all 

 the species are of large size. 



Family 1, FORFICULHLE. 



1. Lahidura gigantea, Linn. This large species of earwig has hitherto been 

 found only in the vicinity of Christchurch, Hampshire, where numerous 

 examples were secured by the Rev. W. Bingley, on the 7th July, 1808. 

 The largest he could procure was nearly fifteen lines in length, exclusive 

 of the antennae, which measured rather more than half-an-inch. A 

 friend of Mr. Bingley's (Mr. Sloman) sought for them afterwards in the 

 same place — Mount Misery — and found a large number concealed under 

 large stones on the sands, rather below high water mark. When ap- 

 proached they turn up the abdomen, bending the extremity over the 

 head, which they defend by means of their enormous forceps. It came 

 to be reckoned amongst the extinct British species, its native origin 

 being actually questioned by the Rev. W. Kirby in his " Introduction to 

 Entomology," until 1874, when a specimen was taken, at Bournemouth, 

 by E. Saunders, Esq. Since then, a few specimens have been taken by 

 Mr. Kemp Welch, of Poole. 



2. Labia minor, Linn. Little Earwig. Flies in the . sunshine, and is very 

 abundant in the spring. 



3. Forficula auricularia, Linn. Common Earwig. 



VsLi.forcipaia, Steph. Forceps very long and slightly incurved. 

 Yar. horeali, Steph. Forceps slightly elongated, the two sides form- 

 ing somewhat of an elliptic figure. 



Yar. media, March. Small ; forceps slightly elongated and very pale. 



4. Apterygida albipennis, Megerl. 



Forficula pubescens, Gene. ? 



