1629. The wireworm (fig. 281. a) is the grub of a coleopterous insect, the E'later obscurus of Marsham (d). This fact has been ascertained by Mr. Paul, an ingenious agriculturist of Starston in Norfolk. The destruction that this grub produces is unfortunately too well known. It lives in the larva (or feeding) state upwards of five years; during all which time it commits its ravages on the roots of grass and grain, particularly that growing on newly broken-up land. The true wireworm has been confounded with the larva (b) and pupa (c) of crane flies (Tipulidï¾µ Leach); hence the contradictory accounts of this insect to be found in different agricultural works.
