304 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Ribes—continued. 
spot are three black warts, each bearing a black bristle. 
The pupa is suspended in a slight web among the leaves 
on the bushes. The same remedies may be used against 
these insects as against the Magpie Moth. 
Sawflies are frequently most hurtful to Gooseberries, 
and to Red and White Currants. (See Gooseberry and 
Currant Sawfly for a short account of Nematus Ribesti, 
the most hurtful species. But the account there given 
is so incomplete, that we supplement it here, in view 
of the very great damage often done by the larve to 
Gooseberry and Currant-bushes, which, at times, they 
completely strip of their leaves.) The insects (see Fig. 
374) are clay-yellow, with three large, black marks on 
the back of the thorax, one on the breast, and others on 
the sides. The legs are pale, except dark tips to the 
last pair; the antennw are dark. The wings are hyaline, 
with a black stigma. The body is }in. or hin. long. 
The insects vary in the amount of black upon them, 
occasionally having even the abdomen almost black. 
The eggs are laid on the veins of the lower surface of 
the leaf, in which the young larve eat little holes at 
first; but, after a time, they devour the whole leaf, ex- 
cept the chief veins, The larvæ, till their last moult, 
are mostly green, studded with numerous black, shining 
BAS a | 
F Slit, 
AUN GAN 
a ZA 
F1@. 375, LARVA OF GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT SAWFLY 
(Nematus Ribesii). ; 
tubercles, bearing hairs (see Fig. 375). The first and 
second, and the eleventh to thirteenth, segments are 
orange. The true legs are mostly black, and the claspers 
are pale green. -In the last moult, the tubercles are thrown 
off, and the larve become uniform bluish - green, with 
an orange spot behind the head, and another on the 
tail. When full-fed, the larve drop to the ground, and 
an inch or two below the surface spin brown cocoons. 
Inside these may be found the pups, green or yellowish- 
green, with orange markings on the thorax and tip of 
the abdomen. There are usually two generations in the 
year. 
Nematus appendiculatus is less often markedly in- 
jurious to Gooseberry and Currant-bushes; for, though 
widely diffused throughout Britain, it is not very 
common. This Sawfly is readily distinguished from 
N. Ribesii by its black abdomen, as well as by its more 
truncate front wings, rather smaller size, and other minor 
peculiarities. The larva is green, with a yellowish tint 
on the second and eleventh and anal segments, and on 
the posterior legs. The larve go below ground to 
pupate. i 
Nematus consobrinus also feeds, in the larval state, 
on the leaves of Gooseberries, and is not rare in Britain. 
It much resembles N. Ribesii, but is slightly smaller 
and duller-coloured, though it varies a good deal in 
the latter respect. The larva is green, beset with black 
tubercles, each bearing a hair; the second segment, the 
sides over the legs, and part of the last segment, 
are yellow. At the last moult, the body becomes uniform 
bright green, except that behind the head and on the 
-tion annually in Britain. 
Ribes—continued. ee 
last segment yellow is visible. There is only one genera- 
Remedies are specified under the heading already 
quoted, and need not be repeated here. They are applic- 
able to all three species of Sawflies, and are, indeed, 
useful against all the insects that feed exposed on the 
leaves. 
Several species of Greenflies, or Aphides (which see), 
live on the lower surface of the leaves of Gooseberries 
and Currants, and frequently distort, the young leaves at 
the tips of the branches, causing these, on the Currants 
especially, to become swollen and reddened. Besides 
the injury thus done to the plants, the fruit suffers 
from being covered with the sticky excretions of the 
insects, and with the dust and soot that adhere to 
these, and the Fungi that find suitable food in them. 
In Buckton’s “ British Aphides,’ the following are re- 
Fic. 376. APHIS (Myzus) RIBIS. 
The figure on the leaf shows the Wingless Female rather larger 
than natural 
much e: 
size; the lower figure shows the Winged Female 
corded as especially injurious, viz., Myzus Ribis (see 
Fig. 376) with cylindrical honey-tubes, and Rhopalo- 
siphum Ribis with the honey-tubes widened in “the 
middle, Both species are green, with dark markings. 
For remedies against these insects, see Aphides. The 
tips of the twigs bearing distorted leaves should be cut 
off and destroyed by fire, if practicable. Syringing the 
bushes with water afterwards is beneficial, by cleaning 
the leaves and fruits. 
On the Continent of Europe, of late years, a good 
deal of injury has been done by a Gall-midge, the 
larve of which feed in the flower buds, and destroy 
them. The insects have not yet been reared. This foe 
has not been recorded in-Britain. 
The fruits are sometimes injured by the larvæ of Halia 
Wavaria (see above); but the worst foes to them are 
birds, e.g., blackbirds and thrushes. The loss from this 
cause is easily prevented by netting bushes of any choice 
varieties; but probably the plants benefit as much as 
they lose when left unnetted, inasmuch as it has been 
observed that bushes under nets are more liable than 
others to be injured by insects. It must be remembered, 
also, that the birds most apt to carry off the fruits of 
Gooseberries and Currants well repay such plundering 
by their services in destroying noxious insects, snails, 
and other marauders during the year, besides the plea- 
sure derived from their song. 
. ldin to Zin. in diameter, 
; lobes usually three, — 
Europe (Britain), &c. U 
broadly ovate, three to five-lo 
and serrate, hairy. h. 3ft. 
En. B. 519) 
— (Sy. 
„a japonicum (Japanese). A, greenish, small, glomerulate 
three-lobed, denticulate-crenate 
R. a. aureum (golden-leaved). A very dwarf, garden strain, with 
yellow flowers, well adapted for ——— — 1881. 
