524 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
WIREWORMS. WORM DESCRIBED. 
five years in obtaining their growth, a considerable number would 
be remaining the third and fourth years, injuring the crops of 
those years. It, however, may very probably be the case, that in 
cold northern countries many worms are double the number of 
years in growing to maturity that they are in more mild and tem¬ 
perate climates. Were our summers but half as long as they are, 
it appears evident it would require two years to produce the same 
advance in the growth of a worm that is now accomplished in one 
year. Hence it may be that in Sweden, where Bjerkander’s 
observations were made, these wireworms are, as he states, four 
or five years in attaining their growth, when, in more southern 
and temperate localities, only half that time is required. 
As they increase in size they moult or cast off their skins, pro¬ 
bably thrice, like most other larvae—the skin at the anterior end 
of the back cracking asunder, and the worm drawing itself out 
through this opening. They are quite soft, tender and pale col¬ 
ored immediately after leaving their old skin, but by exposure to 
the air soon acquire their normal color and firmness of texture. 
The young worms are white or nearly so, and become more tinged 
with tarnished yellow as they approach maturity. They are of a 
cylindrical form, somewhat depressed or flattened. The head is 
more strongly flattened and wedge-shaped. The mouth is rather 
small, with stout, horny jaws of a black color. The antennae are 
placed near the anterior angles of the head, and arc quite smwll 
and only three-jointed, the basal joint being largest and the termi¬ 
nal one short and narrow. Behind the antennae, on each side of 
the head, is a minute black dot resembling an eye. The body is 
composed of thirteen segments, including the head, the third and 
fourth or two last thoracic segments being shortest. On the under 
side, the second, third and fourth segments are each furnished 
with a pair of short legs, which are inserted near the hind edge of 
each segment. The legs arc four-jointed, and at their ends is a 
strong claw of a brown color. The fifth and each of the following 
segments, except the last, has on each side a minute dot, which is 
the breathing pore. The last segment has on its under side towards 
its base a retractile pro-leg, which also appears to be the orifice 
from which the castings of the digested food are evacuated. The 
different forms of this last segment have already been described 
on a preceding page. 
As stated by Mr. Curtis (Farm Insects, p. 155), when the wiro- 
