FALSE WIREWORMS OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST. a5 
summer they were found under the grain shocks in large numbers. 
In this region the species in enormous preponderance is Lleodes 
letchert vandykei. Eleodes pimelioides, Eleodes nigrina, Eleodes his- 
pilabris var. levis, and Eleodes obscura var. suleipennis also occur; 
the first one rarely, the last three quite commonly. 
The results of three seasons’ work in the Pacific Northwest demon- 
strate quite conclusively that the false wireworms are among the 
most destructive insects to recently planted wheat and corn in this 
region. They rank second only to the true wireworms (elaterid 
larve). 
False wireworms are native and not introduced forms; the climatic 
conditions of the country are, therefore, ideal for their existence. 
The converting of enormous areas of the scantily verdured sage- 
brush prairie into wheat ranches has afforded them a new and 
increased food supply and the destruction of the sage hen, badger, 
and horned toad has removed their normal foes. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
The genus Eleodes, to which the beetles treated in this paper 
belong, is very closely confined to the Upper and Lower Sonoran 
Zones. These beetles do not fly and are therefore more restricted 
in their distribution than insects which have a more active means of 
dissemination. The mass of the species occur in the Southwest, 
while several occur in the arid and semiarid regions of California, 
Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. <A few species extend into the 
Carolinian Zone in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, Eleodes tricostata 
having been collected as far east as Independence, Iowa. 
Eleodes pimelioides, however, seems to be an exception to this 
general rule, and is very nearly confined to the northwestern por- 
tion of the Transition Zone, only occasionally being found in the 
Sonoran where this zone merges into the Transition. Specimens 
have been collected in the very humid coastal region of Washington, 
as well as in semiarid regions of this State, of Idaho, and of Oregon; in 
the Rocky Mountains at Helena, Mont., as well as at very nearly sea 
level on Vancouver Island. The species is predominant in the semi- 
arid Transition of Washington and Idaho, the region commonly 
known as the Palouse country. The southernmost records of this 
species are Lake County, Cal.; Elko, Nev.; Wasatch, Utah; and 
Garland, Colo. It extends east to the middle of Colorado and north 
to Vancouver, British Columbia. 
Eleodes letchert vandyker has been collected at The Dalles, Oreg., by 
Messrs. Hubbard and Schwarz. Dr. E.C. Van Dyke has taken this 
species in Modoc County, Cal., and we have found it to be the pre- 
dominant species in the Big Bend region of Washington. All of 
these localities are well within the Upper Sonoran Zone. 
