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THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



By the middle of June, the spring brood of ventricosus swarmed on the red 

 currants and gooseberries, almost stripping the leaves from some of the bushes. 

 Larvae of all ages and sizes, from one tenth of an inch to an inch in length,might 

 be found upon a single leaf; some in their old coats of green and black, and some 

 of the largest in their new ones of green only. At the same time the pretty 

 speckled caterpillars of Ellopia (Abraxis) rib'aria, Fitch, appeared in almost 

 equal numbers. They were more common, however, on the black and red 

 currants than on the gooseberries. The fact of this larva thus feeding on the 

 black currant, disproves the assertion of that eminent entomologist, the late 

 Mr. Walsh, who states [see Am. Entomologist, vol. 2, page 13] that none of the 

 currant worms attack that plant. 



As the fruit was not ripe, I did not wish to apply hellebore, but set all hands 

 to w T ork picking off the depredators, and dropping them into a basin of water. 

 In this way at least a pint of larvae of both species were gathered daily for a 

 week, and a very apparent diminution made in their numbers. About the 20th 

 June, I began to find cocoons of ventricosus, some fastened singly to the surface 

 of a leaf, some in groups of two or three in the forks of the branches. Of these 

 I gathered sixteen, and having put them in a bottle, in about ten days twelve 

 flies emerged, the remaining four dying in their cocoons, as I subsequently ascer- 

 tained. These twelve specimens were all 

 males, and I also noticed the males about 

 the bushes several days before the females 

 appeared, although I searched carefully for 

 the latter. At length, about the middle 

 of July, I detected the females on the un- 

 der side of the leaves laying their eggs in 

 the usual manner, and killed many while 

 engaged in this operation. As soon as the 

 fruit had been picked, I dusted the bushes 

 with hellebore, and found it to be, as re- 

 ported, a .^)?c//?>,completely destroying the 

 ventricosus larvae which came in contact 

 with it, though it did not seem to be so 

 effective in the case of the Ellopia. By 

 the end of July, the saw flies [see accom- 

 panying figure of sawfly, magnified] and 

 their larvee had been very much reduced in number,and the geometers which had 

 escaped destruction had passed into the pupa state. On searching at the roots 

 of the bushes, I found many of these pupae naked in the earth, and a few days 

 afterwards the moths began to appear in great numbers. The net now came 

 into use, and catching half a dozen at a sweep was an ordinary affair, when 

 clouds of them would rise on disturbing a bush. After killing some hundreds 

 in this way, they gradually disappeared, and my two friends were invisible for 

 the rest of the season, with the exception of a few larvae of ventricosus] which I 



Fig. 4. 



