77 



in his violet houses. The hirvie were tirst noticed soon after the phints 

 liad been put in bed, and at this time they seemed to do very little if 

 any harm, l)ut the ground was described as being- "kept well cultivated 

 for two inches deep by their movements." As the i)Iants grew the 

 larvie were stated to begin to feed upon the iibrous roots, and were so 

 doing at the time of writing. They were also stated to devour the 

 outside petals of the flowers which rested upon the ground and very 

 freijuently ate into the hearts of the flowers, rendering them unflt for 

 shipment. Specimens of violets showing the alleged work of this 

 si)ecies were received with the white grubs. A great number of the 

 flowers were described as having been destroyed, and a remedy was 

 requested. 



From the nature of the description 

 of the injury there seems to ])e little 

 doubt that cutworms were the authors 

 of the damage in the case above cited. 



WIREWORMS. 



The term wireworm is applied to 

 numerous forms of elongate wire-like 

 creatures, the larvtfi of snapping 

 beetles or "snap-bugs," beetles of the 

 family Elaterida?. Many of these spe- 

 cies are injurious to culivatcd crops 

 and are often troublesome in green- 

 houses to plants of various kinds, in- 

 cluding violets. As with white grubs, 

 however, and for the same reasons, 

 the exact species causing this form of 

 injury to violets have not been deter- 

 mined. 



The writer has in mind one com- 

 plaint made of the ravages of wirew^orms to violets at Arlington, Md., 

 reported to this ofiice November 25, 1898, by Mr. James K. Marks, jr., 

 who stated that the insects were giving a great deal of trou])le, a 

 remedy being desired. 



A common form of wireworm in the field and one that has been 

 identified as occurring also in greenhouses is the species figured here- 

 with, known scientifically as Agriotes mancus and popularly as the 

 wheat wirew^orm. It was received during April, 1898, from Mr. 

 Milan Vj. Moulton, York Corner, Me., with report that it was injuri- 

 ous in a greenhouse there, cucumbers being attacked when no other 

 plants were in the house. In the illustration (fig. 21) <(, represents the 



Fig. 21.— Aorioi^jiumciiS : a, beetle; 6, 

 larva; c, anal segment of larva in profile — 

 about i times natural size (original). 



