164 



" When it was found that they were so readily attracted to the baits, 

 poisoned clover baits were used, with the result that most of the click-beetles 

 were destroyed, proving that they fed upon the baits and thus suggesting a 

 practical method of combating them. AVhere the insects are very numerous 

 over a limited area, many of the beetles can be killed with the expenditure 

 of very little labour in distributing these poisoned baits. 



•■ On Irapiiinff Jjil lanterns. — A series of six trap-lanterns were kept li'jchtod 

 every night here on the Tuiversity farm from May 1st to October 1st. ISSii. 

 During the whole five months only eighty click-beetles were captured. Thus 

 the method has no practical value in fighting wire-worms." 



False Wirk-Worms (lulus). 



One species of this insect has been troublesome in the vicinity of Victoria, 

 doing considerable injury to potatoes, which it enters in large numbers, con- 

 suming the interior and forming a disagreeable, ill-smelling mass, so that the 

 tuber is rendered valueless. The particular variety alluded to is quite small, 

 about half an inch long, and of a grayish colour. Numbers of a larger variety 

 are to be found in damp woods during the summer, feeding on decaying 

 vegetable matter. This species is about an inch and a half long, nearly black, 

 with yellow bands. The following description of the genus generally is given 

 by Treat;— 



•• Several worm-like creatures f(jund in the soil are popularly called 

 wire-worms, which are not of the larvse of the snap-beetle, indeed, are not any 

 kind of a larva. These are now regarded as belonging to a sub-order of 

 insects, the Myriapods, which includes centipedes, millipedes, etc. The most 

 common representatives of these belong to the genus lulus. They have 

 worm-like bodies, made up of numerous horny divisions, most of which bear 

 two pairs of legs, and there are two short feelers at the head. They are of a 

 blackish or dark-brown colour, and when disturbed, coil themselves into a 

 ring. They undergo no metamorphosis like the proper insects, from which 

 they are also distinguished by their numerous legs. Our species are from 

 an inch to an inch and a half long, but in tropical countries they reach six 

 and seven inches. ■ Many of them feed upon decayed vegetable and animal 

 matter, but some of them feed upon the roots of living plants. One of the 

 largest species (lulus multistriatus, Walsh.) has been found in some localities 

 destructive to strawberry plants, carnations, and especially to lily-bulbs. 

 Potatoes have also been much injured by smaller species. Traps in the form 

 of potatoes, as mentioned under wire-worms, would be of service, or slices of 

 apples, carrots, potatoes, or parsnips, placed upon the beds and covered with 

 pieces of board, will catch many of these millipedes." 



The trap mentioned is as follows : — 



'• In England, previous to planting the potato crop, potatoes, with a 

 stick thrust into them to mark the place, are buried here and there to serve 

 as traps ; they are taken up at intervals, and any worms that may have 

 collected on them destroyed," 



