LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
25 
HABITS OF THE OLDER WIRE WORMS. 
While these wkeworms were being collected in the fields there was 
a good opportunity to observe their feeding habits and their actions 
after emerging from hibernation. As the soil was wet to the surface 
by the intermittent rains, it was easy for the wire worms to reach the 
old beets which were scattered around on top of the ground. As 
the larvae had just 
emerged from hiber- 
nation they fed ex- 
tensively; with the 
result that whenever 
several wire worms 
attacked a beet root 
it was soon honey- 
combed with their 
channels. Many of 
the wireworms noted 
were buried far more 
than their own length 
in the half -rotted 
beets. 
These larvae are 
carnivorous on occa- 
sions (see fig. 6), even 
under field conditions ; 
especially is this so 
during the earl}^ 
period when they are feeding most busil}', and wlien at the same time 
they tend to be crowded. Under average field conditions, however, 
cannibalism is unimportant from an economic standpoint, as these 
larvae are veo^etable feeders ]:)V choice. 
P^IG. 6 
V sugar-beet wii'eworm devouring one of its own kind; to illus- 
trate cannibalistic habit. (Original.) 
LOCATION OF FOOD BY THE WIREWORMS. 
AYhether or not the wireworms, under field conditions, can locate 
food at a distance, and, if so, at what distance, is more or less problem- 
atical. When wireworms were injuring beets in the fields it was 
found by careful digging that all which were near the beets were 
actually feeding on them. Wireworms noticed in fields containmg 
young beets were almost always found in the beet rows, in spite of 
the fact that the ground there is compact and unfavorable for them. 
These facts seem to carry out the idea gained from the experiments 
with the young larvae, that they can locate food at a short distance, 
though this is not proven conclusively. 
