no 



COIIN AND CRASS. 



Figs, 7 and 8 give the size of two kinds of these grubs 

 which are called Wireworms, from their likeness in toughness 

 and shape to a piece of wire. Like it they are very smooth 

 and shining, and somewhat cylindrical ; but a little flattened, 

 so that (like a wire that has been pressed by a weight) they 

 have a blunt edge at each side. The colour is usually 

 ochreous-yellow, turning to a darker tint after death. 



1 and 2, E. Ii7tcatns ; 8 and 4, E. ohsciirus ; 5 and 6, E. gputator, nat. size 

 and magnified; 7, larva of E. sputator 7 ; 8 and 9, larva of E. lineatm, nat. 

 size and magnified; 10, pupa of Wireworm (lines show nat. length). 



The Wireworms have three pairs of short legs, one pair of 

 these being placed on each of the rings immediately behind 

 the head, and they have also a sucker-foot below the tail. 



The egg from which this grub is hatched is laid either in 

 the earth close to the root of a plant, or between the sheath- 

 ing-leaves, or amongst leaves near the ground. On being 

 hatched, the grub or "Wireworm" eats into the stem just 

 above the true root, about an inch below the surface of the 

 ground, and sometimes eats its way up the middle of the 

 stalk, even above the surface of the earth. 



The Wireworms are said to live five years in the grub state, 

 but the length of time probably depends on the supply of 

 food. Where they are well fed, it is supposed that they only 

 take about three years before changing to the pupa. But 

 however this may be, with the exception of any temporary 

 pause in winter (when they go down deeper and deeper into 

 the ground as the frost increases), they feed voraciously, near 

 the surface, till the time has come to turn into the chrysalis 

 (or pupa). Then they go deep into the soil, and form an 

 earth-cell in which they change, and from which the perfect 

 beetle comes up through the earth in two or three weeks, 

 probably appearing about the middle of summer ; or they 



