122 0)1 till' Life History of " Wircivorms'' 



Most of the soil-dwelling Elaterids appear to remain in the soil 

 during the winter, but as is pointed out in the leaflet of the Board of 

 Agriculture (4), both Agriotes lineatus and A. sputator have been found 

 during the winter "in tufts of grass, hedge-bottoms or refuse of dykes." 

 In his Coleoptera of Lancashire and Cheshire, W. E. Sharp (22) also records 

 A. lineatus as "Common in haystack refuse, etc., during winter." 



So far as A. sputator is concerned, this habit is not universal, the 

 beetles having been turned up in the soil during winter, though they 

 had probably left the pupal cell previously. 



In the case of A. obscurus, my observations in the open inclined me 

 to the belief that this species also left its pupal cell and hibernated in 

 the neighbouring soil. Good observers, however, have assured me that 

 they have seen the mature beetle in the cell in winter and early spring, 

 so that there may be a difference in habit in this respect between A. 

 obscurus and the other two species named. Probably the friable nature 

 of the soil in the locality where my observations were made is responsible 

 for the breaking-up of the cell before the beetle was discovered. 



Athous haemorrhoidalis (and it may also be mentioned Corymbites 

 cupreus, F.) similarly remains in the soil during the winter, but whether 

 within the cell or not, has not been ascertained. 



In the spring the beetles emerge from their winter quarters, according 

 to my observations, about the middle of May, Adrianov(i), observing 

 at Kaluga in Russia, in the same latitude as Yorkshire, came to the 

 conclusion that they had emerged earlier than May. Local climatic 

 conditions may perhaps account for this, but during four years' obser- 

 vation in Hertfordshire, scarcely any Agriotes have been found abroad 

 before the 15th May, although in Westmorland A. obscurus has been 

 taken under stones in the first half of April. 



At the end of May Adrianov found them in great numbers on the rye 

 and wheat plants. Later they appeared on the stems and ears, very 

 active in bright sunlight, and he considers that the pollen of rye is their 

 favourite food. At sunset, or on cold and windy days, he found that 

 they were hiding in the grass, under lumps of soil and so forth. 



So far as A. obscurus and A. sjmtator (two of the species referred to 

 by Adrianov) are concerned, my observations do not quite coincide 

 with his. Comparatively few specimens of these two species have been 

 taken by sweeping, either on corn or other plants. They have however 

 been taken in great numbers on occasion under heaps of cut grass and 

 it has been noticed that the largest numbers have been taken in dull or 

 showery weather, as might be expected from reading Adrianov's account. 



