EI^iTEES WEEVIL. 165 



and flowers, is very limited." The beetles 

 from which they spring, and into which 

 they pass, are called elaters ; and almost every 

 former has an instinctive dread of these worms 

 themselves. Yet not many of these persons 

 know that the little long beetles called " skip- 

 jacks,'* which jump when laid on their backs in 

 a wonderful manner, lay the eggs which pro- 

 duce these mischievous devourers. The ela- 

 ters, or skip-jacks themselves, feed only on 

 flowers. The best account to be found of 

 them is that by Mr. Curtis, who gives more 

 hints for remedies than any other writer. The 

 long time these wire-worms exist in their larva 

 state, adds very much to the amount of mis- 

 chief inflicted by them. 



Generally speaking, the larva state is the 

 one in which insects do most injury to corn ; 

 but Mr. Kirby mentions that the weevil de- 

 vours it when housed in the granary, both in 

 the imago as well as larva condition ; and that 

 a single pair of these insects will produce in 

 one year about six thousand of their species. 



Cereal plants are likewise attacked by 

 larva of the willow moth, which consumes the 

 grains of wheat and the seeds of grasses. 

 Flics, also, of various kinds, lay eggs that give 



