Wire- Worms and Click-Beetles 255 



jack Beetle," in a similar state of immaturity. Of each 

 family there are a large number of species, more or less 

 common in the country, the larvae of which live upon the 

 roots of various plants, cultivated and otherwise, and whose 

 power of doing mischief is chiefly limited only by their size, 

 and abundance. Many of them abound in every field, and 

 their presence here is encouraged by the grass growing all 

 round, as well as upon the uncultivated spots, which, from 

 the prevalence of stony mounds, and other causes, are so 

 frequent in the fields. Where, as is so commonly the case 

 round Llanuwchllyn, the potatoes, or other crops, are 

 allowed to become overgrown with weeds, the well-being 

 of the insects, and their grubs, is further assured, and their 

 capacity for ill-doing augmented accordingly. Quite apart 

 from the question of how far it pays to lime, it is a very 

 short-sighted policy that permits the weeds to discount 

 the chances of benefit accruing from the lime that is used ; 

 and, irrespective of either lime or wire-worms, it may safely 

 be said that a little more attention paid to weeding on some 

 of the farms could be productive of nothing but good. 



Crane-flies are a sort of glorified gnats, forming the 

 Genus Tipula, a branch of the Family Tipulid^e^ which 

 belongs to the Dipterous, or two-winged order of insects. 

 More than thirty species have been recognised as natives of 

 Britain, and round Llanuwchllyn several of the large forms 

 are excessively numerous, and, from the farmers' point of 

 view, nearly equally undesirable. All delight in damp 

 pasture land, and they attack the roots of almost any plant 

 they happen to encounter, those of oats being, perhaps, 

 specially favoured by the most abundant of them all, Tipula 

 oleracea. The females, easily recognised by their larger 

 body, and its pointed extremity, may often be seen walking 

 about over the land, stopping every here and there to insert 

 the " tail " into the soil, and to leave an egg there. The 

 number of eggs laid by each individual is large, according 

 to Curtis, 1 at any rate exceeding 300. On one occasion I 

 counted over 250, and estimated that there were about as 

 many more, in the body of a female T. paludosa, which 

 1 Farm Insects, p. 446. 



