68 



CURRANT. 



The infestation is to be found in the shoots of both Eed and 

 Black Currants (chiefly in the latter in the case of specimens 

 sent to myself). It has also been recorded as found in Goose- 

 berry shoots, and according to one observer it has likewise 

 been found in the Ions; shoots of Nut bushes. 



Sesia TiPCLiFOKiiis. — Clirysalis, nat size and magnified ; and section of 

 portion of tunnelled shoot. 



The most serviceable account of the habits of the Currant- 

 borers which I am acquainted with is that given by Dr. W. 

 Saunders in his excellent volume on American fruit attacks,* 

 in which he gives the main points of the infestation as fol- 

 lows : — 



** The female lays her eggs singly near the buds, where in a 

 few days they hatch into small larvae, which eat their way to 

 the centre of the stem, where they burrow up and down, 

 feeding on the pith all through the summer, enlarging the 

 channel as they grow older, until at last they have formed a 

 hollow several inches in length.! . . . Before changing to a 

 chrysalis, a passage is eaten nearly through the stem, leaving 

 merely the thin outer skin unbroken, thus preparing the way 

 for the escaie of the moth. Within this cavity the larva 

 changes to n chrysalis. . . . Early in June the chrysalis 

 wriggles itself forward, and, pushing against the thin skin 

 covering its place of retreat, ruptures it, and then partly 



* See ' Insects Injurious to Fruits,' pp. 336, 337, by W. Saunders, F.R.S.C.,. 

 &c. Philadelphia, U.S.A. ; and 16, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C. 



f The only point of difference between the habits of the larvai in the descrip- 

 tion above given and those recorded in Europe is continuance of feeding. 

 Taschenberg, in his ' Praktische Insektenkunde,' notes the larva as feeding from 

 " July or August until March of the following year." This probably depends 

 much on difference of weather and climate, and I could not have said with any 

 certainty that, though some of my larvffi were partially webbed round, they had 

 ceased feeding, as they were not all full grown. 



