THE 



GARDENER^S MAGAZINE, 



MARCH, 1838. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. A Series of Articles on the Insects most injurious to Cul- 

 tivators. By J. O. Westwood, F.L.S., Secretary to the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London. 



No. 11. The Wire-Worm. 



A.MONGST the most destructive insects belonging to the order 

 of beetles, whilst in their preparatory states, are to be numbered 

 several species belonging to the family Elateridaj, or, as they are 

 commonly termed, skij)-jack or click-beetles, from the peculiar 

 property which they possess of elevating themselves, when laid 

 upon their backs, to a considerable height in the air, by means 

 of an apparatus placed in the breast of the insects, accompanied 

 by powerful muscles, and attended by a sharp clicking sound, 

 when this peculiar motion is performed. It is not, however, 

 in the perfect state that these insects are detrimental to cultivators, 

 but ill that of the larva, when several of them are known under 

 the name of wire-worms, not only from their very hard external 

 integument, but also from their long and cylindrical form. 



The family of the Elateridae is of considerable extent, there 

 being as many as seventy British species. Many of these reside in 

 woods, thickets, and hedges ; and their larvae are found in rotten 

 wood, and are of a more depressed form than the destructive 

 wire-worms; to the genus of which, in allusion to their injurious 

 powers, Mr. Stephens has applied the generic name of Catapha- 

 gus, derived from the Greek word katciphago, to devour. [Illustr. 

 of Bi'it. Ent.y Mandibulata, vol. iii. p. 24'7.) This genus com- 

 prises six British species; and it is not improbable that they all 

 agree in their powers of devastation ; but it is the typical species 

 only which has been traced through its different states. This is the 

 E'later lineatus of Linnaeus, or the E'later segetis of Bjerkander, 

 the larvae of which {Jig' 9. ci) are of a fulvous colour, with six 

 very short legs attached in pairs to the first three segments after 

 the head, and scarcely extending beyond the sides of the body, 

 which is composed of twelve scaly rings (exclusive of the head), 



Vol. XIV. —No. 96. i 



