2 BULLETIN 156, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
worm, is found in granaries and warehouses, where it feeds upon 
stored products. Another genus (Eleodes) is found only in the ter- 
ritory west of the Mississippi River, and attacks cereal crops in the 
field. The name “ wireworm” is also incorrectly applied te several 
species of millipedes (Julus spp., fig. 1, ¢). 
The true wireworms, from an economic standpoint, are among the 
five worst pests to Indian corn and among the twelve worst pests to 
wheat and oats. They are also important pests to many other crops. 
Since 1841, when Dr. Thaddeus Harris first published an account of 
these insects,’ the literature of economic entomology has been replete 
with references to their depredations, and from the standpoint of the 
entomologist, as to the diffi- 
culty of combating them, 
they probably rank second 
only to the white grubs 
(Lachnosterna spp.). 
In view of the recently 
enacted Federal quarantine 
bill these insects assume an 
added interest, inasmuch as 
they can easily be introduced 
in the larval condition with- 
in fleshy roots, bulbs, and 
tubers. Mr. E. R. Sasscer, 
of the Federal Horticultural 
Board, recently intercepted 
an elaterid larva in the root 
of Aralia cordata from Ja- 
pan; the larva was in good 
condition and is still alive 
Fic. 1.—Larve likely to be mistaken for wire. In our laboratory (October, 
worms: a, False EE OCUE 6, mealworm ; 1914). The writer has often 
c, Julus sp. <All enlarged. (Original.) ; 
seen the larve of Agriotes 
mancus Say within potato tubers that had been in a root cellar all 
winter. | | 
These insects are destructive to cereal and forage crops in the 
larval stage only, although the adults of certain species (Limonius 
discoideus Lec., etc.) do considerable damage to the blossoms of fruit. 
trees in the Pacific Northwest, and Fletcher reports? similar depre- 
dations of the adults of two other species (Corymbites caricinus 
Germ. and C. tarsalis Melsh.). The forms attacking cereal and 
1 Harris, T. W. Report on the Insects of Massachusetts Injurious to Vegetation, 
p. 46-50. Cambridge, 1841. : 
2 Fletcher, James. Report of the Entomologist and Botanist, Central Experiment Farm, 
Canada, for 1892, p. 4. Ottawa, 1892. 
