THE WIRE-WORM. 127 



maggot attacks and destroys the central shoots of the plant, 

 dwarfing the lateral ones which are pushed out on the de- 

 cline of the central stem. (d) The Wheat or Corn Saw Fly, 

 (" cephus pygmoe.as") is small in size, of a shining black 

 colour ; the larva is of a yellow colour with a dark head. 

 It takes up its abode within the stem, which it gradually 

 eats away. (e) Wheat Parasites. These are supposed to 

 be very numerous we say, supposed for not much is 

 known either as regards their numbers or their habits. The 

 wheat louse, " aphis cerealium," is a green-coloured insect 

 with dark longish horns ; it infests the ear for some time 

 preceding harvest. The Corn Bugs (' miris tritici" and 

 " miris erraticus") are found frequently attacking the ear of 

 the plant in its various stages. Nothing is known defin- 

 itely as to their habits. To the insect pests which we have 

 now described, we may here add that the grub of the cock- 

 chafer ("Melolontha agricola"- and (i Melolontha ruficomis") 

 and the caterpillar of the winter moth (noctua tritici) at- 

 tack and do great injury to the wheat plants in their various 

 stages. Formidable, however, as is the list of the insect 

 scourges of our wheat crop, that list is not yet exhausted ; 

 there remain, at all events, two to be named, which are as 

 destructive, if not more so, than any yet alluded to. These 

 are the " wire- worm " and the " grub." 



18. The Wire-Worm. While certain crops have what 

 may be called their own peculiar insect scourge which 

 affects it alone, or at least plants of the same natural order, 

 as the turnip fly the cruciferae, and the midge and Hessian 

 fly the graminse or cereals ; the true wire-worm is such a 

 universal feeder that no plant can be said to be safe from 

 its ravages. What therefore we have in the present divi- 

 sion of our work to say about it, although referring speci- 

 ally to the oat crop, will also have a practical bearing upon 

 the wheat crop, which is perhaps more ravaged by this pest 

 than any other crop, and for reasons stated in next paragraph. 

 In practice, it is the habit of farmers to class all grubs and 

 worms under the designation of wire-worms ; this has of 

 course given an appearance of much greater importance to 



