WIEEWOEMS ATTACKING CEEEAL AND FOEAGE CEOPS. 



25 



related to these insects and the larvae are so very wireworm-like 

 that they can be treated, from an economic standpoint, as wireworms. 

 The beetle is about three- fourths of an inch long, rather slender, with 

 very prominent scythe-like jaws; the color is brown. The wireworm 

 is cylindrical. The first joint of the body is very large and extends 

 forward under the head, so that the head is partly inserted within it ; 

 the last joint is long and thimble-shaped. The wireworm when full 

 grown measures If inches in length and is nearly an eighth of an inch 

 thick. The color is reddish brown. 



The genus is recorded by Schiodte 1 as living in moist earth in 

 Europe. In the bureau files is a note 2 by C. V. Riley which records 

 the finding of a pupa at , 

 the roots of a grapevine in 

 July, 1874. No locality ac- 

 companies the note, which 

 is with other notes made at 

 St. Louis, Mo. On July 11 

 an adult emerged. In the 

 same files another note 3 

 records this wireworm as 

 injuring peach and other 

 deciduous tree roots near 

 Fairmont, Cal. In April, 

 1911, Mr. G. G. Ainslic 

 sent a larva of this species 

 to the writer, stating that 

 he found it feeding on oat 

 plants near Jackson, Miss. 

 He sent two other larvae of 

 this insect to the writer 

 from Orlando, Fla., where 

 they were found in black, 

 sandy soil. 



Another interesting record of a wireworm (Luclius hepaticus 

 Germ.) of decidedly minor importance is found in the bureau files. 4 

 Four larva? of this species were found attacking cruciferous plants 

 at Georgiana, Fla. Our only other record of this genus is one in 

 which adults were actually reared from larvae of Ludius attenuates 

 (Say) found in rotten wood; these larvae were predaceous. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Probably the most important factor in keeping wireworms in 

 check are the birds. The following list of birds known, by examina- 



1 Schiodte, J. C. De inetamorphosi eleutheratorum observationes, pt. 5, p. 530, 1871. 

 - U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Ent., Mem. VII, No. 350X, July 11, 1874. 



3 U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Ent., Notes, v. 5, No. 3681, June 24, 1885. 



4 U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Ent., Notes, v. 4, No. 3570, Feb. 23, 1882. 



Fiu. 7. — The -collared wireworm (Cebrio bicolor) : 

 a, Larva; b, beetle. Enlarged. (Original. 



