18 BULLETIN 156, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Webster found pupae in the ground August 19, 1885, at La 

 Fayette, Ind. 



At the Hagerstown Laboratory over 100 larvae of this genus are 

 under observation. Those that emerged as adults this year pupated 

 between the end of July and the middle of August. The pupal 

 stage varied in duration from 12 to 22 days. 



The adults do not leave the pupal cells, however, until the follow- 

 ing spring. Mr. Webster found adults of M. communis in pupal 

 cells on March 17, 1894, at Wooster, Ohio, and the writer found 

 an adult in a wheat field at Hagerstown, Md., on November 22, 1912. 

 This adult was in a cell with its pupal and last larval exuvia. The 

 cell was 1 inch below the surface, in the drill row in which several 

 consecutive plants had been killed. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



The larvae of the genus Melanotics, so far as our observations go, 

 are confined to poorly drained and usually to heavy, sour soil. In 

 making a survey of Birch Creek and Eel Creek bottoms in Clay 

 County, Ind., we were informed by nearly all of the farmers that up 

 to within the past four years wireworms caused very large annual 

 losses to corn growers, while for the past three years this pest has 

 been quite unknown to them. Coincident with the disappearance of 

 the wireworms we find that the land was tile-drained on most of the 

 farms. That the tile drainage of the land was actually responsible 

 for the disappearance of the wireworms is more than we are prepared 

 to say. However, the coincidence is very suggestive. 



WIREWORMS OF MINOR IMPORTANCE. 



The following species, though not serious pests to cereal and for- 

 age crops over extensive areas, are, during certain seasons, very 

 destructive in restricted localities. 



The wireworms belonging to the genus Limonius are among the 

 most important of this group. In 1909 the writer received report of 

 serious damage being done to corn and potatoes at Spokane, Wash. 

 The outbreak was investigated and proved to be very severe, but at 

 the time no larvae were reared. This year (1914), through the kind- 

 ness of Mr. William Tews, of Spokane, the writer received a large 

 number of these wireworms with the report of another serious out- 

 break. Frcm this material we succeeded in rearing adults which 

 are Limonius (species undetermined). The confused wireworm 

 (Limonius confusus Lee.) has made its appearance in Illinois 1 

 within the last few years, and although its principal damage was 

 confined to potatoes, it was also destructive to corn. The beetle is 



1 Davis, J. .T. Preliminary report on the more important insects of the truck gardens 

 of Illinois. In III. Farmers" Inst. I6th Ann. Rpt., p. 216-263, 42 figs. Springfield, 1911. 

 Wireworms. Limonius confusus Lee, p. 251, figs. 36-37. 



