173 



ochreous colour, with a double row of bright crimson 

 spots down each side, except on the four first and five 

 last segments ; 4, Polydesmus complanatus is flattened 

 in shape, and not cylindrical, like the others mentioned. 

 It is from ^ to J an inch in length. All the millepedes 

 are furnished with a large number of legs, giving the 

 under side of the body the appearance of being fringed. 

 The legs are less numerous when first hatched, but 

 they increase in number with each moult. J. guttatns 

 possess as many as 170 legs, J. terristris more than 

 150, when mature. 



Wireworms and Julus Worms injure the potato crop 

 in the same manner. As a rule the attack is made on 

 the tuber, but occasionally on the stem below the 

 surface. Occasionally they attack the sets so severely 

 that the shoots cannot make their way through the 

 soil. A striking instance of this came under our 

 notice some few years ago. Mr. Douglas Summers, 

 of Aspley, broke up a piece of rough ground which had 

 not been tilled previously, arid on this he planted 

 potatoes. The potatoes were so long in coming up 

 that he examined the sets, and found them absolutely 

 infested with wireworms and Julus worms. Seeing 

 there was no chance of growing potatoes or any other 

 crop whilst the ground was overrun in this way, he 

 had the whole of the potatoes taken out of the ground 

 and replaced. Before replacing them, however, the 

 insects were shaken into pails. Some idea of the 

 quantity of worms captured in this way may be 

 gathered from the fact that two pails full were 



