S 
29 
on the thorax and darker yellowish brown on the head, sparsely clothed 
with long hairs. The head, including the mouth parts, is nearly three 
times as long as wide, with the sides almost straight. The clypeus is 
greatly elongated, the posterior portion linear and tapering almost to a 
point behind, the anterior part (epistoma) rectangular, one third longer 
than wide, behind marked off by an impressed line, in front notched at 
middle,.bearing a fringe of short hair each side of the notch, and emar- 
ginate behind each antenna. The antenne are robust, flattened above, , 
the first joint subtriangular, but little longer- than wide, the second 
oblong, twice as long as the first, its apex obliquely truncate, making the 
outer side the shortest. At the inner angle of its apex is attached the 
very small third joint, which is directed obliquely outward; and near the 
outer angle is placed an accessory joint. No trace of ocelli appear. The 
mandibles are about half as long as the head, dark brown, vertically flat- 
tened, deeply grooved, cleft half-way to the base into two branches, one 
above the other, parallel and nearly straight, their apices slightly 
curved outwards. The upper branch bears on its inner edge three sharp 
teeth directed mesad, with a small denticle on each side of the proxi- 
7 mal one. The maxille are slender at their bases, which are provided 
F with numerous long hairs, and are scarcely separated by the very slender 
a labium. The prominent excurved four-jointed maxillary palpi are in- 
% ferior, and the inner maxillary lobe with its brushes of long yellowish 
hair is superior. Between the maxille extends the very slender distal 
portion of the labium, with diverging two-jointed palpi at tip. Thoracic 
7 legs rather stout and long, and furnished with long hairs on the coxe 
| and femora, the latter with about three small spines on the under side 
towards the apex. The tibize each have one or two small spines below, 
; and several short brown spines at the tip. 
The first eight abdominal segments are similar, and consist of three 
divisions each, except that the first division of the first abdominal, and 
the last division of the eighth, are wanting. The middle division is 
wider and subglobose; the other divisions are narrower and subcylindri- 
; eal, the anterior short, the posterior as long as the middle portion. All 
- the abdominal segments are marked below with seven longitudinal sul- 
cations, the median smaller than the rest on the posterior division, and 
reduced to a fine impressed line on the anterior division, on which the 
inner pair of sulci are lacking. The outer pair are lateral, and nar- 
rower, except on the middle division, where they contain the concolor- 
ous spiracles. On the middle portion of each segment beneath, in the 
pair of sulci next to the median one, is a pair of plicated oblong promi- 
nences used in crawling. The ninth segment is two fifths longer than 
the eighth, and the climbing hooks which accompany the prolegs are quite 
prominent. This segment ends in a rounded lobe-like projection clothed 
with long hairs. 
Drasterius elegans, Fabr. 
x (Plate V., Fig. 1-3.) 
This wireworm, the smallest of the species infesting corn, was re- 
ported as exceedingly abundant and injurious to young wheat in Indi- 
