46 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



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 ; dm-ing the greater part of which time it is supported 

 by devouring the roots of Avheat, 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 pasture lands. We have 

 several gi'ubs 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 deprive 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 turnips 

 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 resembling 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 w^as 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 their appearance upon trees and fences, and some are 



