CORN AND COTTON WIREWORM AND ITS CONTROL. 3 
sippi. This would indicate a wide distribution, probably a wider 
one than the mere records reveal, and it is possible that the species 
may occur throughout the entire eastern half of the United States. 
Its occurrence is closely related to the distribution of soils of light 
sandy type, as it is known that the immature stages exist only in 
such soils. Occasionally an adult has been collected several miles 
from sandy locations, but its presence there was more than likely 
due to its own flight from the field of its origin. In some localities 
this species is referred to as the “ sandy-spot wireworm.” 
PLANTS ATTACKED. 
Cotton and corn constitute the principal food plants of this wire- 
worm, and of the cereal and forage crops in the South the greatest 
damage is done each year to corn. The wireworms, besides feeding 
upon the roots of corn and cotton, are known to attack oats, rye, 
cowpeas, crab grass, and Johnson grass. Sweet potatoes, peanuts, 
tobacco, watermelons, and the roots of a wild bamboo are also among 
the food plants of this wireworm. The adults have been observed 
feeding on stems of cowpeas and on young, tender leaves of corn and 
crab grass. 
CHARACTER OF THE INJURY. 
' Corn plants infested by this wireworm become wilted and stunted, 
with leaves of a bluish shade, brown at the tips, which stand out 
from the stalks stiffly instead of bending over gracefully as in a 
healthy plant. Deprived of most of the roots through the work of 
the larve of this wireworm, the plant can be pulled up with little 
effort. Weak plants soon succumb, leaving gaps in the rows, but 
the more vigorous plants put forth new roots in abnormal numbers. 
These are matted together and distorted, and although the plants 
survive, only “nubbins” are produced. The infestation is not con- 
fined to the impoverished areas, for there may be larve among the 
roots of tall and apparently healthy plants. Rolling land infested 
by this insect presents a patchy appearance, the sandy knolls stand- 
ing out distinct and bare, although overgrown later with weeds, 
particularly crab grass, briers, and morning-glories. For a long time 
there was a theory among farmers that lightning caused the injury 
to corn which is now rightly attributed to this wireworm. 
In the case of cowpeas, the fibrous roots suffer most, the thicker 
roots being perforated, so that the plants become yellow and dwarfed, 
and fail to vine. 
Cotton is injured in the early stages by larvee boring into the seed 
and injuring the very young plants, checking the growth so much 
that the plant dies or struggles along only to produce little or no 
cotton. 
