FALSE WIRE WORMS OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 75 



summer they were found under the grain shocks in large numbers. 

 In this region the species in enormous preponderance is Eleodes 

 letcheri vandylcei. Eleodes pimelioides, Eleodes nigrina, Eleodes Ms- 

 pilabris var. Isevis, and Eleodes obscura var. sulcipennis also occur; 

 the first one rarely, the last three quite commonly. 



The results of three seasons' work in the Pacific Northwest demon- 

 strate quite conclusively that the false wireworms are among the 

 most destructive insects to recently planted wheat and corn in this 

 region. They rank second only to the true wireworms (elaterid 

 larvae). 



False wireworms are native and not introduced forms; the climatic 

 conditions of the country are, therefore, ideal for their existence. 

 The converting of enormous areas of the scantily verdured sage- 

 brush prairie into wheat ranches has afforded them a new and 

 increased food supply and the destruction of the sage hen, badger, 

 and horned toad has removed their normal foes. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



The genus Eleodes, to which the beetles treated in this paper 

 belong, is very closely confined to the Upper and Lower Sonoran 

 Zones. These beetles do not fly and are therefore more restricted 

 in their distribution than insects which have a more active means of 

 dissemination. The mass of the species occur in the Southwest, 

 while several occur in the arid and semiarid regions of California, 

 Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. A few species extend into the 

 Carolinian Zone in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, Eleodes tricostata 

 having been collected as far east as Independence, Iowa. 



Eleodes pimelioides, however, seems to be an exception to this 

 general rule, and is very nearly confined to the northwestern por- 

 tion of the Transition Zone, only occasionally being found in the 

 Sonoran where this zone merges into the Transition. Specimens 

 have been collected in the very humid coastal region of Washington, 

 as well as in semiarid regions of this State, of Idaho, and of Oregon; in 

 the Rocky Mountains at Helena, Mont., as well as at very nearly sea 

 level on Vancouver Island. The species is predominant in the semi- 

 arid Transition of Washington and Idaho, the region commonly 

 known as the Palouse country. The southernmost records of this 

 species are Lake County, Cal.; Elko, Nev. ; Wasatch, Utah; and 

 Garland, Colo. It extends east to the middle of Colorado and north 

 to Vancouver, British Columbia. 



Eleodes letcheri vandylcei has been collected at The Dalles, Oreg., by 

 Messrs. Hubbard and Schwarz. Dr. E. C. Van Dyke has taken this 

 species in Modoc County, Cal., and we have found it to be the pre- 

 dominant species in the Big Bend region of Washington, All of 

 these localities are well within the Upper Sonoran Zone. 



