128 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



the ravages of the wire-worm, so called, than is properly 

 due to it ; but as that able entomologist, Mr. Curtis, ob- 

 serves, the true wire- worms " have enough to answer for 

 on their own account, and the great ignorance," therefore, 

 " that has existed regarding them," gives a high degree of 

 practical utility to all remarks bearing upon their charac- 

 teristics and on the best mode of meeting these ravages. 



The wire-worm is known as the elater Uneatus, other- 

 wise the agriotes Uneatus, also, cataphoegus Uneatus. It 

 is the larvse of a very numerous species of beetle of the 

 genus elater ; as many as sixty are known in this coun^- 

 try, and are all eminently destructive of vegetable life. 

 These larvae feed upon the roots and the lower part of the 

 stems of the cereals and grasses, and are particularly de- 

 structive to the oat crop, arising from a very general practice 

 of taking this immediately after the breaking up of grass 

 land in the soil of which the eggs are abundant. The 

 body of the wire-worm is long and slender, about one inch 

 in length, cylindrical, made up of a series of twelve rings 

 or segments ; the three segments nearest the head bearing 

 three legs on each side ; the body is smooth generally, al- 

 though provided with a few hairs scattered here and there ; 

 the colour is yellowish, with brownish head. The length 

 of the pupa or chrysalis the third stage of insect life is 

 about one-fourth that of the larva ; its colour is whitish, and 

 is made up of ten rings and segments, the last of which 

 bears at the abdomen two short projecting spines ; two 

 black spots are placed over the eyes. The wire-worm re- 

 mains in its larvse or grub condition for several years. 

 The "imago "or perfect insect, the last stage of insect 

 life, is a beetle, known popularly as one of the snapping 

 beetles or bugs ; its length is about one-third of an inch ; 

 the colour of the body is brown, the legs a dark yellow. 

 The name of the genus elater is given to it on account of 

 the peculiar power possessed by the beetle of leaping 

 up when placed by any circumstance on their backs, a 

 characteristic notable enough, as those who are acquainted 

 with the habits of insects know ; many will have doubt- 



