106 PRIZE ESSAY : 



six-legged insects, of a bright yellow or of a shining black colour ; 

 very, active. First noticed by Dr. Fitch from specimens sent 

 from Wisconsin, July 9th, 1855, where it was causing some alarm 

 in the neighbourhood of Geneva. Seen near Geneva in count- 

 less numbers. Found in the blossoms of wheat and clover. The 

 thrips cerealium is a most destructive insect, and is said to have 

 destroyed, in 1805, one-third of the wheat crop in Piedmont. 

 According to Mr. Kirby it is by far the most numerous of any 

 insect upon the wheat in England ; he does not think he ever 

 examined an ear of wheat without meeting with it. 



GAYLORD'S GRAIN WORM (undescribed.) 



182. Common in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, 

 Connecticut, &c., and in parts of Canada (Northumberland Co.) 

 A small caterpillar, orange coloured, and longer and darker than 

 the maggot of the wheat midge ; feet distinct, and twelve in 

 number. They are found half an inch long, and when disturbed 

 they let themselves down by a thread from the ear. They feed 

 on the grain in all stages of its growth. The perfect insect is 

 unknown. In some agricultural publications this insect is de- 

 scribed as Gaylord's Wheat Caterpillar. (See Canadian Agri- 

 culturist, page 81, 1856.) 



THE WIRE WORM (Elater lineatus.)^ 



183. The wire worm is a name frequently given by farmers to 

 the larvae of numerous species of beetles belonging to the genus 

 elater. Upwards of sixty different species of this destructive 

 insect are known in Britain, and the same numbers in Massa- 

 chusetts,^) and it is probable that they are equally numerous in 

 this country. These larvae feed upon the roots and the under- 



(1) Called also Agriotes lineatus ; Agriotes, &c., and Cataphcesus lineatus ; Cata* 

 phaegus. &c. 



(2) Harris. 



