LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 27 
this manner and liave cleared off the beets it is almost impossible 
to raise beets there during that year, even if replantmg is resorted 
to several times, as the wireworms kill them as soon as they germinate. 
The injury caused by the wireworms is characteristic and should 
never be mistaken. In the first place, if the injury is recent, an 
examination will reveal the wireworm near by in the soil. If no 
wireworm is present an examination of the wound will readily show 
whether or not it is wireworm injury. The wound itseh is stained 
black, as if rubbed with ink. Sometimes the black stain has pene- 
trated for a short distance into the sound beet tissue, but where it 
has not, it is considerably darker than the dry tissue surrounding an 
ordinary old wound. 
Effect of overflowing on the wireworm. — From the fact that wire- 
worm injury is often noticed in fields which have been overflowed 
in the latter part of the winter, it has naturally been supposed that 
overflowing of the land is favorable to wireworms. This has not 
been proven to be entirely true. A careful watch was kept on the 
fields which are subject to overflow, and from these observations 
it seems that overflowing the land is of account only as it aft'ects 
the character of the soil and is therefore secondary. In overflowed 
land which tends to be sandy the wireworms are likety to be destruc- 
tive year after year. On the other hand, flooded land which is a 
heavy silt and rich in humus is seldom so badly injured as is sandy 
unflooded land. One thing has been noticed, however, and that 
is that flooding the land does not seem to injure the insect in the 
least and therefore gives little promise as a control measure. Some 
of the beet fields which have suffered the most during the last few 
years are those which almost every year are quite thoroughly flooded 
for two or three days. 
TIME THE WIREWORMS CAN LIVE WITHOUT FOOD. 
Whether or not these larvae are able to find food in the soil is hard 
to determine, but judging from the length of time they are able to 
live without food it seems possible that they do receive some suste- 
nance from the soil, probably in the form of decaying vegetation. 
This is further borne out by the fact that where larvse are kept for 
a time in a cage without food all the lumps of leaf mold disappear 
and the soil in the cage becomes homogeneous. 
Several observers have reported that these larvae can survive long 
periods without food, and one example which was noted in the 
laboratory will furnish added proof. During June, 1910, Mr. H. M. 
Russell commenced a starvation experiment by placing several 
wireworms in a root cage, with ordinary soil, without food. In 
July, 1911, seven larvae were still alive and healthy. This cage was 
