66 
but the lower surface is reddish brown and the legs are clothed with 
reddish-yellow hairs/' 
Remedie.s. — Unfortunately the carrot beetle works under ground, 
like common white grubs, and for that reason is as difficult to control. 
Injury is largely confined to the beetles, although the larvae do some 
injurj^ If we could ascertain the principal breeding places, this might 
furnish a solution of the problem. The grubs may be treated as 
described in preceding paragraphs. In a case of reported injury to 
the roots of sweet corn in Minnesota in 1902 the presence of the carrot 
beetles was traced to their having developed in horse manure on the 
infested grounds;^ hence avoiding the use of this as a fertilizer or the 
destruction of the white grubs in the manure is recommended. Crop 
rotation is one of the best remedies, and it is probable that trap lights 
might ^deld good results, as these insects are more attracted to bright 
lights than are ordinarj^ May beetles, although it is not known to what 
extent the beetles might be lured from the fields after they have begun 
to feed. 
WIEEWOEMS. 
The sugar beet, as has been said, is so nearly exempt from injury 
b}^ wireworms that this plant, as also spinach, might be profitably used 
as an alternate in the cultivation of corn, various other cereals, and 
vegetable crops, such as potatoes, which are frequently very badly 
infested by these insects. Occasionall}^ wireworms of several species 
have been found eating into the smaller roots of beets and burrowing 
into the tap roots and crowns, causing the plants attacked to shrivel 
and die. Messrs. Forbes and Hart have indicated two species of wire- 
worms as having been concerned in such injury, Melanotus crihnlosiis 
and Drasterms elegcons, both of which have been observed about beet 
roots which had been more or less injured and eaten away. 
The term wireworm is applied to numerous forms of elongate wire- 
like creatures, the larvae of snapping beetles or '^snap-bugs," of the 
family Elateridse. Many species are injurious to cultivated crops and 
are often very troublesome in cornfields. A large proportion of the 
wireworms are shining yellow in color, while many of the adults, like 
the species figured, are brown and covered with close brown or yel- 
lowish pubescence. 
The life history of injurious subterranean species is in some respects 
similar to that of white grubs, the beetles being among the earliest 
spring arrivals, occurring in April and May, and flying rapidly in the 
heat of the day. 
The eggs are generally deposited in moist places grown up with 
grassy vegetation, weeds, or corn, and thelarvse upon hatching feed, 
« A more complete account is given on pp. 32-37 of Bui. 33, n. s., Div. Ent. 
& Washburn, 7th Rept. Ent. Minn, for 1902, pp. 47-49. 
