INSECT AND OTHER PLANT ENEMIES. 



Ill 



The beetles are popularly known as click-beetles, 

 skip- jacks, and similar names referring to the 

 noise they make when leaping off their backs. 

 Athous hwmorrhoidalis is dark -brown or black, 

 with paler-brown wing-cases and a reddish 

 abdomen. Elater lineatus has the head and 

 shoulders of a dark-brown, and is covered with 



Fig. 144.— Wire worms. 

 1 and 2. Elater lineatus. 3 and 4. E. dbscurus. 5 and 6. E. sputator (natural 

 size and magnified). 7. Larva of E. sputator. 8 and 9. Larva of E. 

 lineatus (natural size and magnified). 10. Pupa of wireworm, the 

 natural length being shown by 11. 



a gray down. The wing-cases are yellow, closely 

 striped with brown. A. sputator is covered with 

 a thick gray down, and having the head and 

 shoulders black. The wing-cases are pale-brown, 

 with a darker tint on the middle. A. obscurus is 

 dark-brown with paler wing-cases, and covered 

 with a gray down. The above four species 

 are all very common and destructive. Their 

 larvae or wireworms are very similar, semi- 

 cylindrical, pale-yellow, hard, wiry, and smooth, 

 with exception of a few scattered hairs. They 

 occur in all soils, but seem to give preference 

 to certain plants, as the gardener but too well 

 knows. They live from three to five years in 

 the wireworm state, then change to pupae in 

 July or August, but hibernate in the soil till 

 April or May, and some may be found as late 

 as July. 



Remedies. — The most effective remedy for 

 ridding the soil of wireworms is to trap them 

 with pieces of Carrot, Potato, Turnip, or other 

 food which they like. Push a pointed stick 

 into these baits, and bury them in the soil about 

 3 inches deep, examining the same every mor- 

 ning to collect and destroy the wireworms. 

 When the ground is vacant in August dig it 

 deeply and thoroughly break up the clods, for 

 by so doing the pupae and newly - developed 

 beetles will be largely destroyed, especially the 

 former, as they cannot bear disturbance at this 

 stage. Encourage all insectivorous birds while 



such operations are going on. Closely examine 

 all fresh turf brought into the garden, for it 

 often swarms with the pest. Dressings of salt, 

 gas-lime, and petroleum mixed with sand are 

 useful to some extent in driving the grubs deeper 

 into the soil, but neither will kill them unless 

 applied in quantities that would also kill the 

 plants. Various manures help the plants, 

 especially seedlings, but they do not injure the 

 wireworms. In America, at the Cornell Uni- 

 versity Agricultural Experiment Station, great 

 success was achieved by trapping the adult 

 beetles, and although the species caught were 

 different from the British ones, the experiment 

 is well worth a trial here. The baits used were 

 small bundles of freshly - cut Clover, dough 

 sweetened with sugar, and sliced Potatoes placed 

 in tins and sunk in the soil to the rims. It was 

 proved that the beetles run over the ground in 

 quest of food, but more plentifully at night. 

 The Clover attracted the greatest number of 

 beetles. Another successful method was to 

 poison handfuls of fresh Clover by dipping them 

 in Paris-green water, laying them about the in- 

 fested ground, and covering them with pieces 

 of board. The beetles were found dead, thus 

 proving that they ate the bait. These remedies 

 should be carried on from April to midsummer 

 in Britain, so that if the beetles are caught 

 before laying their eggs, fresh broods of wire- 

 worms would thereby be prevented. 



Yellow Underwing Moth (Triphcena pro- 

 nuba). — This moth measures somewhat under, 

 to slightly over, 2 inches in expanse. The fore- 



Fig. 145.— Great Yellow Underwing Moth (Triph&na pronuba\ 

 1. Moth. 2. Caterpillar. 3. Chrysalis. 



wings vary from a pale reddish-yellow to a dark, 

 dull, reddish-brown, with a black spot on the 

 front edge. The hind-wings are yellow, with 

 a black band near the outer margin. The cater- 

 pillars are abundant on various vegetables and 

 flowers during April, and are gray or dull- 

 greenish, with three pale lines and some spots 



