COLEOPTERA. 47 



true insect, but belongs to the class Myriapoda, a name derived 

 from the great number of feet with which most of the animals 

 included in it are furnished ; whereas the English wire-worm has 

 only six feet. The European wire-worm is said to live, in its 

 feeding or larva state, not less than five years ; during the greater 

 part of which time it is supported by devouring the roots of 

 wheat, rye, oats, and grass, annually causing a large diminution of 

 the produce, and sometimes destroying whole crops. It is said to 

 be particularly injurious in gardens recently converted from pas- 

 ture lands. We have several grubs allied to this destructive 

 insect, which are quite common in land newly broken up ; but 

 fortunately, as yet, their ravages are inconsiderable. We may 

 expect these to increase in proportion as we disturb them and de- 

 prive them of their usual articles of food, while we continue also 

 to persecute and destroy their natural enemies, the birds, and 

 may then be obliged to resort to the ingenious method adopted by 

 European farmers and gardeners for alluring and capturing these 

 grubs. This method consists in strewing sliced potatoes or tur- 

 nips in rows through the garden or field ; women and boys are 

 employed to examine the slices every morning, and collect the 

 insects which readily come to feed upon the bait. Some of these 

 destructive insects, which I have found in the ground among the 

 roots of plants, were long, slender, worm-like grubs, closely re- 

 sembling the common meal-worm ; they were nearly cylindrical, 

 with a hard and smooth skin, of a buff or brownish yellow color, 

 the head and tail only being a little darker ; each of the first three 

 rings was provided with a pair of short legs ; the hindmost ring 

 was longer than the preceding one, was pointed at the end, and 

 had a little pit on each side of the extremity ; beneath this part 

 there was a short retractile wart, or prop-leg, serving to support 

 the extremity of the body, and prevent it from trailing on the 

 ground. Other grubs of Elaters differ from the foregoing in being 

 proportionally broader, not cylindrical, but somewhat flattened, 

 with a deep notch at the extremity of the last ring, the sides of 

 which are beset with little teeth. Such grubs are mostly wood- 

 eaters, devouring the woody parts of roots, or living under the 

 bark and in the trunks of old trees. 



After their last transformation, Elaters or spring-beetles make 



