COLEOPTERA . 
545 
beetle jumped so high that it betrayed us and was liber¬ 
ated, and we were disgraced. 
Our common species of click-beetles are mostly small or 
of medium size, ranging from one tenth to three fourths of 
an inch in length. A few species are larger, some reaching 
the length of nearly two inches. The majority of the 
species are of a uniform brownish color; 
some are black or grayish, and some are 
conspicuously spotted (Fig. 654). The body 
is elongated, somewhat flattened, and tapers 
more or less towards each end ; the antennae 
are moderately elongated, and more or less 
serrate; the first and second abdominal seg¬ 
ments are not grown together on the ventral 
side; and the hind coxae are each furnished with a groove 
for the reception of the femur. 
The larvae of click-beetles are long, narrow, worm-like 
creatures, very even in width, with a very hard covering, 
and are brownish or yellowish white in color (Figs. 655 and 
Fig. 654. — A click- 
beetle. Drasterius 
dorsalisy natural 
size and enlarged. 
Fig. 655. Fig. 656. 
656). They are commonly known as wire-worms, a name 
suggested by the form and hardness of the body. 
Some wire-worms live under the bark of trees and in 
rotten wood; but many of them live in the ground, and 
feed on seeds and the roots of grass and grain. In fact 
there is hardly a cultivated plant that they do not infest; 
and, working as they do beneath the surface of the ground, 
it is extremely difficult to destroy them. Not only do they 
infest a great variety of plants, but they are very apt to 
attack them at the most susceptible period of their growth, 
before they have attained sufficient size and strength to 
withstand the attack; and often seed is destroyed before 
it has germinated. Thus fields of corn or other grain are 
