affecting the Turnips, Comi-crops, Sfc. 
181 
Of all the insect enemies with which the farmer has to contend, 
there are none which are more fatal in their effects, and more 
difficult to overcome, than the Wireworms. It has already been 
stated that the larvae of many insects are not unfrequently attached 
to one species of plants, or at least to one particular tribe or 
" natural order ;" thus the ravages of the Turnip-fly* are confined 
to the Crucifera'.j of the Black-caterpillar;}; to the turnip, of the 
Hessian-fly to corn, &c. ; but in the \Vire\vorm we have an ex- 
ample of a larva which may almost be termed omnivorous, as far 
as regards the productions of the field and garden, ior it will feed 
upon corn, turnips, mangold-wurzel, potatoes, grass, and cabbages, 
as well as upon the roots and stems of the choicest flowers ; its 
operations tlierefore being so extensive, the mischief done by these 
formidable little animals must be incalculable. 
It is true that every grub and worm § found at the roots of 
their crops by the farmer and gardener has been hitherto stigma- 
tised with the appellation of " the Wire worm, ' wliich has no doubt 
contributed to add to the amount of mischief complained of; 
nevertheless, the true Wireworms have enough to answer for on 
their own account, and the great ignorance that has existed re- 
garding them renders a narrative of their natural history very de- 
sirable. An instance, which occurs in the ' Gardeners Magazine,' || 
will be sufficient to substantiate the assertion ; figures 93, b and c, 
are there given as the larva and pupa of Elater segetis^ (viz. the 
true Wireworm), but they are undoubtedly the offspring or pro- 
duce of some insect not belonging to the same order, but probably 
to the Diptera or two-winged flies. Suc:h errors are sadly mis- 
chievous in a work expressly intended to convey information to all' 
classes, and no subsequent correction can entirely eradicate a 
blunder and its effects when once circulated by the press. 
It will probably surprise the general reader to learn that there 
are nearly seventy species of beetles in this country which are the 
parents of Wireworms ; many of them however live in decaying 
trees or under the bark, and the number that affects our crops of 
corn, vegetables, and flowers is very limited ; of these we shall 
treat as lar as we have been able to obtain data for their histories, 
but their economy appears to be so similar, that it will be most 
convenient to consider them in the first instance as the Wireworms. 
* Royal Agric. Jour., vol. ii. p. 193. 
t So called from the four leaves or petals of tiie flowers forming a cross. 
I Royal Agiic. Jour., vol. ii. p. 364. 
ij Millepedes, Centipedes, and the larvae or maggots of Gnats and Tipulao 
have been thus confounded, 
II Vol. vi. p. 500. 
% This name is synonymous with E. lineafus, as will be shown a few 
pages farther on. 
