EARWIGS. 
3 
sides of the rick in hundreds. One night the rick-cloth was put over 
the rick, and some time after it was put up the cloth Avas covered. 
Also this last week, carrying Peas from the opposite hill, the waggons 
were full of them. The cottagers complain of them, and they simply 
swarm everywhere round this country.” 
On Sept. 5th Mrs. Howard mentioned that they had disappeared 
from the piece of Thousand-headed Kale, and that it had started 
growing again; hut that they were carried into the rick-yard in great 
numbers from the adjoining Oat-field. 
The extraordinary amount of Earwig-presence was strongly brought 
forward by the excellently qualified authority, Mr. Martin Sutton, in 
the following note sent me from Dyson’s Wood, Kidmore, near 
Beading, on Sept. 27th. Mr. Sutton remarked:—“The enclosed 
cutting from last Saturday’s ‘ Field ’ exactly describes my own case and 
those of large numbers of people in our neighbourhood. If possible 
I think the plague at Dyson’s Wood was even worse than that de¬ 
scribed by the ‘ Field ’ correspondent,* and it is only just abating. 
“ A farmer near here attributes the loss of two sowings of Turnip 
to the ravages of Earwigs. I do not know how far it is probable they 
were the cause, but I have had a piece of Mangel Wurzel apparently 
suffer very greatly from their presence, and roses and flowers of all 
kinds are riddled through and through with them.” 
* “ A Plague op Earwigs. —I occupy a house to which a paddock and large garden 
is attached; the soil is light, with a subsoil of chalk. Some months ago I was 
troubled with these disagreeable creatures coming in at the windows and doors, 
and the only way I could hinder them was by covering all my windows with 
muslin and closing the doors at sunset. Even then a number managed to wriggle 
in and cause great annoyance. They dropped on to the supper table, they swarmed 
in the pantry, getting into fruit pies after cooking, and running out when the pies 
were cut. They pushed their way into the bread, so that we frequently cut slices 
off these wretches in cutting bread and butter. They found their way into the beds, 
linings of hats, coats, &c. When the doors were opened in the morning they 
dropped in .such numbers that the mats were literally covered with them. They 
hide away in the daytime, so there is not much chance of birds devouring them. 
One evening I amused myself (by the light of a lantern) in killing them on the 
walls outside, and I hit upwards of eleven hundred with a hammer in about half 
an hour, and only ceased because I was tired of the game. I could have killed as 
many more. I then took the lantern and examined a privet hedge about seventy 
yards in length; this was then in flower, and I found there were as many Earwigs 
as flowers. This caused me to give up all hope of exterminating them. I had 
freely sprinkled the window-sills with insect powder, carbolic acid, and paraffin, 
with no apparent effect. So tenacious are they of life that, when cut in halves, 
both parts run about for a considerable time. I have noticed several broods during 
the summer, so that unless the winter destroys them we shall be eaten out next 
summer. I have not found the lettuces eaten, but roses are perforated and com¬ 
pletely spoiled. Last year they were numerous, but this year I believe there were 
millions.”—‘ Field,’ Sept. 25th. 
