Rot, and Lime 257 



braken fern. The harmful members of the family are 

 mostly small, dull brown, and black insects, frequently to 

 be found on the heads of umbelliferous plants, and other 

 flowers. The Wire- Worms, of which they are the pro- 

 genitors, are only too familiar ; but it is not so generally 

 known that they spend several years * in that state, growing 

 slowly, and feeding all the time upon the roots of many 

 different kinds of plants. One of the most common of the 

 beetles, round Llanuwchllyn, is Elater lineatus. Like others 

 of its kindred, it reaches the beetle stage of its existence at 

 various times during summer, and individuals of different 

 broods probably pair, and lay their eggs, during different 

 months. Some of them may even hibernate, for I have 

 seen them pairing in spring, and again in July. In early 

 June, I watched one female depositing her eggs on the base 

 of a stem of the common " midge grass " (Holcus lanatus\ 

 one of the least useful grasses to the farmer, and often 

 regarded by him as the cause of "rot" in sheep, that 

 dreaded disease to which Shakespeare was referring when 

 he wrote 



" More dangerous 



Than baits to fish, or honey-stalks to sheep ; 

 When as the one is wounded with the bait, 

 The other rotted with delicious feed." 2 



Lime, as has been already stated, is believed to be one 

 of the best deterrents to an attack of Wire- Worms. Like 

 Leather-jackets, they dislike dryness in the soil, and draining 

 is, therefore, also beneficial. Where they are troublesome 

 in a garden, and where they can afterwards be collected, and 

 destroyed, slices of potato, buried in the beds, will attract 

 large numbers of them ; but on a large scale, such methods 

 are, of course, impracticable. In the fields, birds are 

 amongst their chief natural enemies, particularly Rooks, 

 Starlings, Seagulls, and Partridges ; the benefit derived from 

 the latter on cultivated land, both in the destruction of 

 insects, and the seeds of many noxious weeds, being often 



1 Five in the case of the most common species. 



2 Titus Andronicus, Act IV. Scene iv. 



17 



