Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/702

 678 WIRE WORM WISBY the same purposes. Wire is also often used in the manufacture of fences. Its chief advan- tage is that sections or panels of fence may be formed in framework, which may be joined and fastened together in such lengths as occa- sion may require, and readily moved. WIRE WORM, a name applied to the myri- apod animals of the genus iulus (Latr.), to the larva- of several of the spring beetles, and to the caterpillars of many owlet moths of the family agrotididce, the last more properly call- ed cut-worms. (See CUT- WORM.) The char- acters of the order of myriapods have been sufficiently given under CENTIPEDE. The genus iulu may be taken as the type of the sub- division chilognatha, popularly called mille- pedes from the great number of feet. The body is long and cylindrical, consisting of nu- merous horny, arched segments, most bearing two pairs of feet ending in small single hooks, the last having none ; antennae short and seven- jointed ; jaws rudimentary, suited for feeding on soft or decaying vegetable substances in- stead of the living prey of the chilopod centi- pedes. Their movements are very slow and worm-like; when in danger the body is rolled into a spiral ball ; they undergo a kind of meta- morphosis, having at first only three pairs of feet, and attain their full growth only after several moultings extending over a period of two years, showing an affinity to the insects proper ; the reproductive season in Europe is from December till about the middle of May ; they lay a great number of eggs in the ground. They are common in damp earth and moss, and sometimes on or under the bark of trees; they are harmless, and actually beneficial in warm climates by consuming decomposing ve- getable substances ; they have been considered injurious to vegetation in temperate regions, probably erroneously. The Canada wire worm Canada Wire Worm (lulus Canadensts). (/. Canaderwis, Newport), so common in Can- ada and about the falls of Niagara, is in. long, with 43 smooth shining segments; it is reddish flesh-colored, with black lateral spots beneath a longitudinal series of white patches. In Europe the most common are the /. sabu- losus nnd terrettris (Linn.), about H in- l n g brownish variegated with yellowish, and with about 120 legs on a side. The largest species is the I. maximus (Linn.), 6 or 7 in. long, and a native of woods and retired places in South America. The larvae of the spring beetles (elater, Linn.) are called wire worms from their slenderness and hardness ; they are said to live in the larva state five years, during most of which time they feed on the roots of wheat, rye, oats, and grass, causing sometimes nearly a total destruction of the crop ; they are espe- cially injurious in gardens recently converted from pasture lands. The best known Euro- pean wire worm is the elater (agriotes) tegetis (Bierk.), the cataphagus lineatu* (Steph.) ac- cording to some entomologists being the same ; the larva when full-grown is about seven lines long, very narrow, yellowish, hard and shi- ning, with 12 segments, the last two indented with dark specks, head brown, and end of jaws black ; it is very destructive to grain and culinary vegetables. The E. (agriotes) mancus (Say) is about -fr in. long, stout, dark brown covered with dirty yellowish gray hairs, and punctured thickly above; from April to June numbers may be seen among the roots of grass and on rails and fences; the larvae have six legs on the first three segments, and beneath the tail a short retractile wart or prop-leg. WIRT. a W. central county of West Virginia, bounded N. by Hughes river, and intersected by the Little Kanawha; area, 298 sq. in. ; pop. in 1870, 4,804, of whom 29 were colored. The surface is very hilly and the soil generally fer- tile. Iron ore and bituminous coal are abun- dant. The chief productions in 1870 were 15,532 bushels of wheat, 128,836 of Indian corn, 87,988 of oats, 17,809 of potatoes, 44,000 Ibs. of butter, 8,712 of tobacco, and 1,527 tons of hay. There were 954 horses, 954 milch cows, 1,259 other cattle, 4,183 sheep, and 3,700 swine. Capital, Wirt Court House. WIRT, Uilliani. an American lawyer, born in Bladensburg, Md., Nov. 8, 1772, died in Wash- ington, D. C., Feb. 18, 1834. He was admitted to the bar in 1792, and commenced practice at Culpeper Court House, Va., but in 1795 set- tled in Cliarlottesville. In 1799 he removed to Richmond, was elected clerk of the house of delegates, and in 1802 was appointed chancel- lor of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, but soon resigned to return to the bar at Norfolk. In 1803 he published in the "Virginia Argus" his " Letters of a British Spy," consisting principally of sketches of prominent public orators (10th ed., with a memoir, 12jno, New York, 1832). In 1804 he published in the " Richmond Enquirer" a series of essays under the title of "The Rainbow." He settled in Richmond in 1800, and represented that city in the Virginia house of delegates in 1807-'8. In the prosecution of Aaron Burr he was re- tained to assist the United States attorney. In 1816 he was appointed attorney of the United States for the district of Virginia, and from 1817 to 1829 he was attorney general of the United States, settling in Baltimore on his re- tirement. In 1832 he was the candidate of the anti-masonic party for president of the United States. His best known work is his "Sketches of the Life and Character**)? Patrick Henry " (1817; loth ed., Hartford, 1852). His life has been written by J. P. Kennedy (2 vols. 8vo, Philadelphia, 1849). WIRTUIBERG. See WURTBMBERG. WISBY, Laws of. See LAW MERCHANT, vol. x., p. 219.