86 ORDER COLEOPTERA. 



EMeridae. 



The most distinct characters of this famih are found in the firm and structure of the 

 posterior part of the thorax and sternum : th> - f the former are prolonged into a 

 i "tli. and the latter is produced into a spine which tits into a groove of the abdomen. 

 This arrangement of parts enables the insect, when upon its back, to spring upwards and 

 alight upon its feel : this is the only mode bj which it can recover its standing, when 

 accidentally upset j and from this circumstance these insects are called spring beetles, or 



pbugs. Their antenna- are short and filiform, ami either serrate or pectinate ; the palpi 

 terminate with a triangular or reniform joint ; the mandibles are bifid at the ap< \ : bodj 

 linear and depressed : thorax with the hinder and lateral angles, produced into a point; 

 the margin is also grooved for the reception of the short antennae. The sternum is produced 

 behind into a spiae, which fits into a groove in the base of the abdomen. The females are 

 furnished with a tripartite ovipositor. 



In thi- family, as in the preceding, the head is received into the thorax deeply, ami the 

 legs and antennse are short and slender. 



The lame live upon the roots of vegetables, wood, etc., ami are very injurious to corn 

 and herbaceous roots. Thej are known in New-York and New-England by the name of 

 voireworms, from their form and hardness : they resemble, however, a speciesof bus. 

 which belongs to the Class Myiuapoda, and should therefore not be confounded with it ; 

 a mistake which it is quite unnecessary to commit, as the myriapod has man] feet, while 

 the wireworm has only six. 



Although tin- elateridse, in their perfeel state, are closely allied to the buprestidse; y< t 

 their larvie have feet, while the larva- of the latter family are destitute of them : so the 

 enlargement or dilatation mar their heads is equally distinctive ; but tin re is one kind of 

 ablance common to both, for thej both live several years in the larval state, and hence 

 have abundance of tinn- tod., much injury. "When a field becomes infested with wire- 

 worms, the indian corn and other cultivated crops an oft< n entir< ly destroyed, and many 

 times require replanting. The larva eats either through the kernel after it is swollen, or 

 through tin- young shoot. T have seen two wireworms in the same swollen kernel. 

 They attack grass, and all the cereals ; and in consequence of their long continuance in 

 this state, the soil becomes infested with them. 



Soils which are the most infested with these larva are usually poor ; and one of the 

 most effective modes that can be adopted in the cultivation of such land, is to enrich it. 

 Another mode which aids very materially in the extirpation of the wireworm, is to plough 

 late in the fall : it is supposed that by exposing the ground freely to the action of frost, 

 the larvtC must perish from cold. 



