238 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



A figure of this larva was given by De Geer, vol. v. pi. 12. f. 4. 5., 

 whOj however, was unacquainted with its transformations. Another 

 figure (of El. obscurus) was given by Mr. Marsham, Linyi. Trans, ix. 

 pi. 18. f. 4., copied in the Introduction to Ento7nolog7/, voil. i'li. p\. 18. 

 f. 4. ; but the first segment of the body is incorrectly represented 

 without legs, and a pair is given to the fourth ; the terminal segment 

 is also misrepresented as furnished with two lateral apical lobes. 

 The ravages of these larvae, which feed upon the roots of wheat, rye, 

 oats, barley, and grass are occasionally so extensive as to render it 

 necessary to resow the ground ; and, when it is added that (according 

 to Bjerkander, who has published an account of this insect in the 

 Stockholm Transactio?is for 1779*) it is five years in arriving at the 

 perfect state, the amount of damage which they commit may be 

 easily believed. They will also attack the larger roots of turnips 

 (eating to the centre of the root), potatoes, carrots and salads, like- 

 wise cabbages, (Gai'd. Mag. iii. 381.) Irideae, pinks, lobelias, &c. 

 (^Ibid. p. 493.). I once found one of them in the stem of a lettuce 

 plant, the interior of which it had completely devoured. This larva 

 crept tolerably quickly, with a sliding kind of motion, the tail being 

 bent on one side somewhat like the letter S. I never observed it, 

 or indeed any of the larvae in this family, roll themselves up like the 

 luli. The wire-worm is evidently very fond of the lettuce, for Mr. 

 Hogg (Ga7-d. Mag. iv. 317.) mentions the great service, which he has 

 found in laying slices of it as a bait for them, and Sir Joseph Banks 

 recommended the same mode of capture, only substituting slices of 

 potatoes for the lettuce. It is not generally known that the mole 

 devours great quantities of these worms. Pheasants are also equally 

 serviceable, since I have heard of instances where these birds, on 

 being shot, have been found with their crops filled with wire-worms. 



I possess several other larvae perfectly agreeing with that of EI. 

 lineatus above described, but wanting the black spiraculiform marks 

 upon the last segment, which is terminated by three points, the 

 central one being the longest and most slender (^fig. 24. 20.). Bouche 

 in his Naturgeschichte has described and figured the larva of 



* For further accounts of the ravages of the wire-worm, consult Marsham, in Com- 

 munications to the Board of Agriculture, iv. 412. and in Linn. Trans, ix. 160. Passe- 

 rini, Rapporta sopra I'opuscolo del Signor Negri, sopra il bruco che devasta i seminati 

 di frumento. Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 181. Duncan, in Quarterly Journ. of 

 Agricult. No. xxxvii. June, 1837. Westwood, in Gardener's Mag. Feb. 1838. 



