130 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



modes generally adopted to prevent the ravages of this in- 

 sect scourge of our farm crops. In the 6th paper of this 

 valuable series (Vol 5th of the Journal, 1844), the reader 

 anxious to go deeply into the subject will find a vast amount 

 of matter bearing upon it ; it will answer the purpose we 

 have in view in the preparation of these "notes," if we 

 give here a rapid resum6 of the principal points there 

 touched upon. 



Of the beetles belonging to the genus elater, or leaping 

 beetles, which are the parents of the true wire-worm ; there 

 are four species which most commonly attack the cereal 

 crops. These we very briefly describe, referring to the pa- 

 per above alluded to for a detailed description of them. 

 (1.) The Elater sputator. This is the smallest of these 

 four common species, its colour is variable, and is met with 

 in our corn fields in the spring, (2.) Elater obscurus 

 This is larger than the last species ; and like it is met with 

 in the spring. (3). Elater lineatus. Of this Mr. Curtis 

 says that it is "supposed by some to be a variety of the 

 foregoing species. It is now by far the most abundant, 

 and is found in spring and summer." (4.) Elater rufican- 

 dis. This is the largest of the four common species, and is 

 found in the spring infesting nettles abundantly. It is not 

 yet determined, or if determined, not, at all events, widely 

 known, whether the eggs are laid by the female beetle in 

 the earth or in the base of the cereal plants. When the 

 wire-worms are first hatched they are very small, but at- 

 tain, when fully grown, a length of from three quarters of 

 an inch to an inch ; their growth is slow. One remarkable 

 peculiarity possessed by the wire-worm is the long period 

 in which it remains in the larvae condition, namely, five 

 years ; thrice during this period they eat off, so to speak, 

 their outer skins ; this at intervals probably corresponding 

 with their increase in size. Following upon this curiously 

 interesting operation, the wire-worms are white in colour, 

 and have tender skins; recovering, however, their normal 

 condition of tough smooth skin, they move along the sur- 

 face and dig or burrow into the bosom of the soil with great 



