The Bulletin. 11 



of corn plants is small compared with wheat and the injury would be 

 more concentrated. The following extracts from my notes on this trip 

 Avill be of interest in this connection : 



Greensboro, April 11, 1905. — Noted injury to wheat by Wire-worms 

 eating off stem and roots at and near surface of ground. ISToted at sev- 

 eral places, though never serious. 



Lexington, April 12, 1905. — In one field found very considerable in- 

 jury by Wire-worms. Land had previously been in broom-sedge, as evi- 

 denced by tufts of sod in the field. 



Statesville, April 13, 1905. — Noted some injury. 



On April 20 (1905) the writer went to Warren County to investigate 

 a Wire-worm outbreak. The infested field was a fine piece of meadow- 

 land, reclaimed from swamp by drainage, and was cultivated (to corn) 

 the year before for the first time, when Wire-worms destroyed practically 

 every stalk. During the summer the land grew up in grass and weeds 

 again and was not plowed until spring, when the soil Avas found to be 

 still badly infested. The larvse were still to be found in almost any foot 

 of soil examined ; they were apparently of different ages, some about full- 

 grown. No pupse nor adults were found. 



Fig. 1. — Adult and larva of Wire-worm. It is the larva or 

 worm form that does the damage. The adult beetle is 

 known as a "Jack-snapper" and does no harm other than 

 to lay the eggs. 



(After Comstock and Slingerland.) 



There are many species of Wire-worms, and though the kinds cannot 

 always be distinguished in the Wire-worm stage, yet of the adult beetles 

 over seventy species are already known to occur in North Carolina, and 

 there are probably as many more not yet on record. But it is probable 

 that only a few of our species are seriously destructive. 



In June, 1913, a correspondent sent adult beetles of Wire-worms and 

 said they were doing serious injury to his corn, but his description fitted 

 the work of the Wire-worms themselves. No doubt the larvse were still 

 doing injury, but some were coming out in the mature beetle form, and 

 it was these which he found. 



Life-history.* — Wire-worms are the young, or larv^, of the beetles 

 which are called "Jack-snappers," "Snap-jacks," "Click-beetles," "Hom- 

 iny-beaters," "Elaters," "Thumping-beetles," and other similar names. 

 The beetles have these names because of their power to spring suddenly 

 into the air when placed on the back. 



*Mnch of what is known of exact life-histories of Wire-worms comes from the work of 

 Dr. Forbes in Illinois. (Bui. 44. 111. Exp. Sta.. "Ins. Iniuries to Seed and Roots of 

 Corn," May, 1896.) Extensive experiments are also reported by Professors Comstock and 

 Slingerland of the N. Y. (Cornell) Exp. Sta. 



