102 



Otf THE WIREWORM. 

 VI. 



Some Observations on an Insect that destroys the Wheat, siip~ 

 posed to be the Wireivorm. By Thomas Walford, Esq, 

 F. A- S. Sf L. S, With an additional Xvt.e 3 by TiiOMas 

 vr " Marsham, Esq. Treas. L.S.* 



The wireworra J|_ £IJ£ insect which is the subject of the following memoir 

 )ias never, I believe, been noticed or described by any en- 

 tomologist or agriculturift ; its depredations are the annual 

 topic of conversation with the latter, yet few know what 

 insect it is, that destroys the wheat in the months of October 

 and November, under the denomination of the wireworm. 

 Many suppose it to be a scolopendra, others a species of 

 irflus, and some the larva of a tipula, or of the scarabcei$s 

 mclolonthq of Linnaeus. I supposed it to be one of the 

 above, till I found £wo insects in the very act of destroying 

 the wheat, as represented in the annexed figure (PL IV, 

 Jig. 3, a.). These I believe to be the insects commonly, 

 although very improperly, called the wireworms in Essex 

 and Suffolk : they appear to me l^rucc of one of the coleop- 

 terous tribe; but to what genus they belong can at present 

 only be conjectured. The projecting jaws somewhat resem- 

 ble those of a lucanus. The two jointed bristles, and the 

 cylindrical tail, give it an affinity to staphylinus ; but the 

 /arva of this insect is supposed to be carnivorous, and not 

 graminivorous. I fear, therefore, that the genus of this 

 insect cannot be determined, till it is traced to its perfect 

 state. 



I shall now proceed to relate the discovery of ihe insect, 

 and to detail the injury supposed to be done by it. 



In October 1802, having occasion to call upon an agri- 

 culturist f, whose skill and judgment in farming are rarely 

 equalled, he informed me, that his green wheat was dying 

 and losing plant very much, the reason of which he could 

 not comprehend. I immediately suspected, that it was oc- 

 caiioned by the wireworm ; but what kind of insect it was, 



I.arvx of a 



coleopterous 



iiiL'ect. 



Discovery of 

 the insect. 



• Trans, ef the Linnean Society, vol. IX, p 156. 

 + Mr. Thomas Olky, of Stoke next Clare, in Suffolk, 



I could 



