8o 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETABLES 



and there are many species, but, fortunately, a small percentage 

 only of nearly 600 described forms have been identified in con- 

 nection with losses. From an agricultural viewpoint they fall 

 into two classes, such as feed upon living vegetation, and those 

 which subsist upon rotten wood and similar material. Most of 

 the noxious forms that have been recognized are wire-like, 

 hence the common name, and are nearly cylindrical, hard, 



smooth and shining, and of 

 a yellowish or reddish color. 

 They have three pairs of 

 legs placed far forward on 

 the anterior extremity, and 

 the last segment (the thir- 

 teenth counting the head) 

 ends in a proleg on the un- 



Fig. 45. — Wheat wireworm. a. Beetle: b, 

 larva: c, anal segment of larva in profile. 

 (Author's illustration, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



Fig. 46. — Common click- 

 beetle. Three times natural 

 size. (After Forbes.) 



der surface. They are surprisingly hard in texture and among 

 the most vigorous insects known, being difficult to poison by 

 means of anything that has been tried. A common and destruc- 

 tive species known as the wheat wireworm (Agriotes mancus 

 Say) is illustrated by figure 45. 



