Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
Rearing techniques were developed and apparatuses built for biological studies on the Elateridae in the organic soils of southwestern Quebec. Adults attracted to heap-traps are normally mixed with a large quantity of hay trash which makes the recovery of beetles tedious and difficult. To facilitate this work, an insect sorting box was designed and built and proved quite satisfactory. A flight-trap was also designed for obtaining information on adult species concerning their period of emergence, peak and length of emergence, and height and direction of flight. Adequate techniques for the incubation of wireworm eggs and the rearing of larvae under constant supply of water through capillary action were developed. A large field cage was designed and built to study under natural conditions the complete life-cycle of the species of elaterids found in organic soils.