COLEOPTEKA OK BEETLES. 



169 



The Corn Ground-beetle (Zahrus gihhus) (fig. 84) injures thfe 

 roots of corn in its larval state ; the adult destroys the barley 

 in the ear, and lives during the day in tunnels in the ground. 

 They are black-coloured beetles, about an inch in length, with 

 broad heads and strong biting jaws. Another species, Steropus 

 madidus, somewhat smaller, devours mangel-wurzel, attacking 

 the young roots, often gnawing them off at the level of the 

 ground. This beetle is also carnivorous. The same species and 

 two others — Harixdus riificornis and Calaihus cisteloides — have 



1, Adult 

 pupa. (Cui-tis.) 



Fig. S4.— Corn Ground-beetlf {Zabius gibbus) 

 3, larva, nat. size, and magnified; 4, entrance to lan'al bun-ow ; 5, 



in recent years been working among strawberries. H. ruficornis, 

 the most abundant, is about two-thirds of an inch long, black, 

 with a large thorax, the elytra protecting two wings. The 

 other two noticed have no wings. They not only strip the ripe 

 and ripening fruit but attack the leaves and shoots. All we 

 can do in regard to such an attack is to trap the beetles by 

 sinking jam-pots or small pudding-basins in the soil, partly 

 filled with sugar-water and decaying meat. The beetles fall in 

 and are thus caught. 



EOVB-BEETLBS OB SlAPHYLINIDyE. 



These beetles can be told by the short truncate elytra, which 

 leave the abdomen exposed. They somewhat resemble earwigs 



