affecting the Turnips, Corn-crops, §c. 1 83 
dug- up and laid on the surface, their smooth horny coats being 
well adapted to their subterranean habits. 
The Wirewonn very much resembles the Mealworm;* it is of 
a pale ochreous colour, becoming darker when dead, with a few 
hairs scattered over its polished shining skin ; it is semicylindrical, 
the back being convex, the belly more flat ; its head is flattened 
or wedge-shaped, and there are twelve abdominal segments ; the 
mouth is rather small, and comprises an npper-lip (fig. 3) with a 
horny base, the margin leathery and bilobed ; it is small and 
concealed beneath the clypens (fig. 4), which is rigid, with a 
ciliated lobe on each side, and three minute teeth in the middle ; 
beneath is a large semiovate space (fig. 5) formed by the union of 
the base of the maxillae (h) with the mentiim or chin (c), which is 
long and narrow ; the nnder-lip (d) is small and somewhat obtri- 
gonate, the base truncated, the margin undulating and furnished 
with two small biarticulate palpi or feelers (c), sometimes with an 
indistinct third joint : on cither side is the maxilla, having a 
minute and densely pubescent lobe on the inner angle, with a larger 
biarticulate one behind itf (f), and a four-jointed palpus or 
feeler on the outside, the terminal joint the smallest (y) ; above 
these are the mandibles or jaws (fig. 6), which meet over the 
mouth, one being placed on each side ; they are strong, hornv, and 
of a pitchy colour, being more or less pointed, with a tooth below 
the apex, and frequently a smaller one at the middle, J; and below 
this is a ciliated space. There are also two little antennce or 
horns (fig. 7), placed in front of the head near the anterior angles ; 
they are triarticulate and similar to the palpi in form, the basal 
joint being the largest, the terminal one short and slender (h) ; 
sometimes there is a tubercle projecting from one of the angles of 
the second joint (?'), but whether these are accidental differences 
or characteristic of different species is not at all clear. On each 
side of the head and behind the antenna* is a minute dot like a 
little eye. The first abdominal segment is much longer than the 
two following (fig. 2 §J), the eight succeeding have a minute 
spiracle on each side (fig. 2) ; the terminal one is the longest and 
conical (fig. 9), with a brown or blackish oval aperture or 
spiracle (?) larger than the others on each side towards the base (A) ; 
beneath this segment is also a false leg or prehensile foot (l) which 
assists in walking, and is probably the vent for the evacuation of 
the digested food ; the three first or thoracic segments are fur- 
* Curt. Brit. Ent., fol. and pi. 331. 
+ These are the analogues or parts which correspond with the two hairy 
lobes in the beetles, vide fig. 24. 
% These jaws are sometimes so worn at an advanced age, that the apex 
is rounded and the smaller teeth have entirely disappeared. 
^ Royal Agvic. Journ., vol. ii. p. 376, pi. B, f. 3. 
