78 THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 



jacks, and click or snip-beetles, from the power they possess of 

 springing- up with a click or snap-like noise when placed upon 

 their backs. The eggs of the wireworm are very minute, and 

 are deposited in the earth at the root of the young plants. When 

 first hatched they are invisible to the naked eye, but attain nearly 

 the length of an inch when full grown, and in this state of larvse 

 they remain for nearly five years. No wonder, therefore, that, be- 

 tween their longevity and rapacity, they should be deemed by far- 

 mers so very pestilent a scourge. During the continuance of their 

 larva state, these worms cast their outer skin several times, being 

 white in color, and very tender for a short period after each slough- 

 ing ; at other times they are covered with a hard and solid coat of 

 a horny consistence, so firm and impenetrable as to render them 

 proof against most of the ordinary remedies that might be used 

 for their destruction. 



Wireworms are somewhat more than half an inch in length, and 

 resemble the meal-worm in appearance, but are more angular, less 

 perfectly cylindrical, more flattened above and below. Their head 

 is horny and formed for perforation, and the mouth, though small, 

 is furnished with a most effective pair of very powerful jaws. 

 There are six feet on the upper portion of the thorax, and one at 

 the extremity or tail. The former are called pectoral or thoracic, 

 the latter anal. 



When full-grown, the wireworm buries itself in the ground, 

 where it forms a cell, in which it becomes a chrysalis or pupa ; 

 this change takes place early in ^autumn, and in two or three weeks 

 at farthest it becomes a beetle. The beetles are harmless, feeding 

 only on flowers ; they can fly well, and when on the ground can 

 run very fast, with their heads down, and drop when approached. 

 The mouth is not the same in appearance with that which existed 

 in the worm, but will, on examination, be found to be formed of 

 the same organs, only perfected. 



There are two species of beetle that produce the wireworm, 

 more common in grain-fields than the rest, and therefore the more 

 to be dreaded. These are : the elater appressifrons, and the elater 

 obesus. 



The bug parent is familiarly known as the snapping bug. As 

 before said the worm continues five years before its transmutation 

 to the perfect insect state, during which time it feeds on the roots 

 of wheat, barley, oats, corn and grass. Its ravages are sometimes 

 extensive and desolating. 



