H2 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



creatures which devour the plant itself. They at least 

 can be seen while eating, however closely they may 

 conceal themselves at other times, and the amount of 

 food which they take is proportionate to the mischief 

 which they do. But the Wire-worm wastes and eats 

 in concealment, and, while it only eats one-tenth the 

 amount of that consumed by a caterpillar of equal 

 size, destroys ten times the number of plants. Various 

 projects have been set on foot for extirpating the 

 Wire-worm, but I hear of no plan that has succeeded 

 except that provided by Nature, namely, the fondness 

 of certain birds for the Wire-worm. Mr. Westwood 

 mentions that even pheasants are useful to the farmer 

 in this respect, their crops having been found stuffed 

 with Wire-worms. There are very few plants or 

 flowers which this voracious insect will not attack, and 

 the gardener as well as the farmer is therefore inte- 

 rested in the Skipjack Beetles and their progeny. 



The mole is a great eater of Wire-worms, as it 

 finds them near the surface, and can take them while 

 making the superficial burrows which it often exca- 

 vates within an inch or two of the surface of the 

 ground. It is stated that this destructive larva 

 remains five years in the ground before assuming the 

 pupal stage, so that we ought to encourage as far as 

 possible every creature which assists in keeping down 

 its numbers. 



Our last example of these insects is that which is 

 represented on the next page, and is known by the 

 name of Campy lus linearis. 



As the reader may see by reference to the figure, 

 this insect is very unlike any of the Beetles of this 



