66 



but the lower surface is reddish brown and the legs are clothed with 

 reddish-yellow hairs/' 



Remedies. — Unfortunately the carrot beetle works under ground, 

 like common white grubs, and for that reason is as difficult to control. 

 Injury is largely confined to the beetles, although the larvte do some 

 injury. If we could ascertain the principal breeding places, this might 

 furnish a solution of the pro})lem. The grubs may be treated as 

 described in preceding paragraphs. Jn a case of reported injury to 

 the roots of sweet corn in Minnesota in 1902 the presence of the carrot 

 beetles was traced to their having developed in horse manure on the 

 infested grounds;^ hence avoiding the use of this as a fertilizer or the 

 destruction of the white grubs in the manure is recommended. Crop 

 rotation is one of the best remedies, and it is probable that trap lights 

 might yield good results, as these insects are more attracted to ])right 

 lights than are ordinar}' May beetles, although it is not known to what 

 extent the beetles might be lured from the fields after they haAC begun 

 to feed. 



WIREWORMS. 



The sugar ])eet, as has been said, is so nearl}" exempt from injurj^ 

 by wireworms that this plant, as also spinach, might be profitably used 

 as an alternate in the cultivation of corn, various other cereals, and 

 vegetable crops, such as potatoes, which are frequentl}^ ver^^ badly 

 infested bj- these insects. Occasionally wireworms of several species 

 have been found eating into the smaller roots of beets and burrowing 

 into the tap roots and crowns, causing the plants attacked to shrivel 

 and die. Messrs. Forbes and Hart have indicated two species of wire- 

 worms as having been concerned in such injury, MelanoUi^ crlhulosu^ 

 and Drasterius elegans, both of which have been observed about beet 

 roots which had been more or less injured and eaten away. 



The term wireworm is applied to numerous forms of elongate wire- 

 like creatures, the larvae of snapping beetles or ''snap-bugs," of the 

 family Elateridne. Manv species are injurious to cultivated crops and 

 are often ver}^ troublesome in cornfields. A large proportion of the 

 wireworms are shining yellow in color, while many of the adults, like 

 the species figured, are brown and covered with close brown or yel- 

 lowish pubescence. 



The life history of injurious subterranean species is in some respects 

 similar to that of white grubs, the beetles being among the earliest 

 spring arrivals, occurring in April and May, and flying rapidl}' in the 

 heat of the day. 



The eggs are generally deposited in moist places grown up with 

 grassy vegetation, weeds, or corn, and the larvae upon hatching feed, 



« A more complete account is given on pp. 32-37 of Bui. 33, n. s., Div. Ent. 

 6 Washburn, 7th Kept. Ent. Minn, for 1902, pp. 47-49. 



