52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



from other wireworms by the pointed posterior extremity and 

 especially by the two dark brown or black pits on either side of 

 the last segment and almost touching the preceding segment. 

 These wireworms, when full grown, are from about one and one- 

 fourth to one and one-half inches long, waxy, yellow, slender and 

 hard. The parent insects presumably deposit their eggs near the 

 roots of grasses and the young hatching therefrom require three 

 years to complete the life cycle. The transformation to the delicate 

 pupa occurs within an earthen cell in late summer or early fall, the 

 beetles emerging the latter part of the following May or during 

 June. 



Owing to the hard, chitinous covering of the wireworms, they 

 can not be readily destroyed by the application of insecticides of 

 any kind. Their subterranean habits and preying upon field crops 

 of comparatively small commercial value, also increase the diffi- 

 culties of satisfactorily controlling the pests. Destructive wire- 

 worms are most likely to be abundant in sod, particularly that which 

 has been seeded for some time, and it is therefore unwise to plant 

 on badly infested sod crops liable to serious injury. Should the 

 latter be necessary, something can be accomplished by plowing in 

 early fall, since this process destroys the delicate pupae in their 

 hibernating cells. Experiments have shown the practicability of 

 killing the parent cHck or snapping beetles by the judicious use 

 of poisoned baits, such as clover or lettuce dipped in strong paris 

 green water. This can be done successfully only in midsummer, 

 at the time the parent insects are abroad, and should be continued 

 so long as numbers of beetles are attracted to the bait. Unfortu- 

 nately, these measures are of no immediate service in a field badly 

 infested by the pest. Prof. H. T. Fernald, as a result of certain 

 experiments, provisionally recommends tarring corn and then plac- 

 ing the same in a bucket containing fine dust and paris green mixed 

 in such proportions that the corn, after being shaken up in the 

 bucket, shows a greenish color. Such corn feeds through a seeder 

 without difficulty and in the experiments came up satisfactorily, 

 while check rows were badly injured. Examinations later showed 

 that the wireworms were present close to the seed but that they did 

 not molest the seed itself, apparently being repelled by the appH- 

 cation. It is by all means advisable, as pointed out above, to avoid 

 trouble, if possible, by planting on land free from these pests those 

 crops which can not be protected. A rotation of crops will do much 

 to prevent this pest becoming unduly abundant, since it is primarily 

 a grass-feeding species and requires some three years to complete 

 its life cycle. 



