= 
ana in 1889.* The first mention of it as an insect mjurious ‘to ‘corn 
which has come to my notice, is contained in the Report of the United — 
States Entomologist for 1887, p. 151, in the nature of a note by Mr. > 
Webster to the eifect that he “had twice surprised larva of Drasterius, — 
supposed to belong to this species, with their heads inserted in the stems 
of young corn. Mr. Wm. H. Ashmead also reports+ that the corn fields 
of certain counties of Maryland were found to be badly infested. by two — 
insect larvee, one of which he considered as possibly that of D. elegans. . 
lt was first found by me in corn fields August 18, 1882, at Elmira, — 
Illinois, in the course of a field study on the corn root worm (Diabrot- 
ica longicornis). It was taken again from the roots of young corn at . 
Normal, Illinois, June 17, 1884, “and also in Champaign county June 
11 of the following year, and June 5, 16, and 29, 1886. June 26 of the 
last year it was collected from growing corn at Cairo, Illinois, where it 
Was associated with great numbers of ‘another and more injurious wire- ~ 
worm (Cardiophorus). An individual was seen May 16, 1887, at Cham- 
paign, Illinois, among the roots of corn, eating a kernel of sprouting | 
corn; and another was taken a few days later among the roots of corn, 
following sod, in such connection with an injured kernel as to leave 
httle doubt that it had beén eating it. It occurred again in corn-field 
collections from the earth, made at “Champaign May 29 of that year, and 
in others made June 20, 1888. The extent and amount of its injuries 
are as yet unknown, the data collected serving merely to show its pres- 
ence and injurious habits in corn fields following grass. 
This is the smallest of the wireworms, measuring when full grown 
less than half an inch in length. It was first identified by breeding by 
Comstock and Slingerland in 1891, as reported in their Bulletin 33 of 
the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, published in 
1891. 
Description. Larva. (Plate V., Fig. 2 and 3).—‘“The larve are 
small, 9 mm. to 12 mm. in length, sparsely hairy, and considerably flat- 
tened in form, tapering slightly toward the extremities. The body is of 
light waxy yellow color, with the head and following segment consider- 
ably darker. A deep linear mesal impression extends along the dorsum. 
The mandibles are rather large and not toothed. The caudal segment is 
much flattened, and has a nearly heart-shaped caudal notch formed by | 
two short, broad projections that curve upward, each of which terminates 
in two short, blunt, horny, diverging tubercles. The dorsum of the seg- 
ment is bounded by a narrow ridge. which, at the sides of the segment, “5 
bears five or six short, horny tubercles. The oval area bounded by this Ha 
> 
ridge is strongly convex cephalad, and deeply concave caudad. This oy 
area is marked by two distinct linear impressions diverging slightly > 
cephalad from which many fine wavy wrinkles radiate. The proleg is 
large, hairy, and has no raised ridge around its base, but the segment is ~ = 
deeply excavated just back of it.”t on 
*F. M. Webster in Bull. 22, Div, Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 52. ger 
“Insect Life,” Vol, HI (1890), p. 54. Ee: 
“ t Comstock and Slingerland, in Bull. 33, Ent. Div. Agr. Exper. Station, Cornell — 
Iniv., p. 267. 
