230 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



in gardens recently converted from pasture ground. 

 In the botanic garden at Hull, thus circumstanced, a 

 great proportion of the annuals sown in 1813 were 

 destroyed by it. A very simple and effectual remedy, 

 in such cases, was mentioned to me by Sir Joseph 

 Banks. He recommended that slices of potatoes 

 stuck upon skewers, should be buried near the seeds 

 sown, examined every day, and the wire- worms, 

 which collect upon them in great numbers, de- 

 troy ed.'* 



The wire worm is long, slender, and very tough 

 and hard ; but otherwise it has no resemblance to 

 wire, being whitish in colour, of a flattish form, and 

 jointed or ringed. Its breathing spiracles, two in 

 number, are on the back of its last ring. 



a, Wire worm ; 6, Click beetle. 



An insect of this family (Elater noctilucus, LINN.) 

 is exceedingly destructive, in the West Indies, to the 

 sugar-cane; the grub, according to Humboldt and 

 Bonpland, feeding on its roots and killing the 

 plants."]* 



Instances are by no means rare, however, of in- 

 sects being accused of depredations of which they are 

 not guilty, from the mere circumstance of their being 



* Intr. i, 182-3. t Geog. des Plantes, 136. 



