LEPIDOPTERA. 255 



clay composition, and surround the trunk with a strij) of 

 sheathino- paper eight or nine inches wide, which should ex- 

 tend two inchci) below the level of the soil, and be secured 

 with strino-s of matting above. Fresh mortar should then be 

 placed around the root, so as to confine the paper and prevent 

 access beneath it, and the remaining cavity may be filled with 

 new or unexhausted loam. This operation should be per- 

 formed in the spring or during the month of June. In the 

 winter the strings may be removed, and in the following spring 

 the trees should again be examined for any borers that may 

 have escaped search before, and the protecting applications 

 should be renewed. 



In Europe there is a species of JSg-eria, named by Linnaeus 

 tipuliformis, which has long been known to inhabit the stems 

 of the currant-bush. This, or an insect closely resembling it, 

 is far too common in America, in the cultivated currant, with 

 which it may have been introduced from Europe. The cater- 

 pillars are produced from eggs laid singly, near the buds; when 

 hatched, they penetrate the stem to the pith, which they de- 

 vour, and thus form a burrow of several inches in length in 

 the interior of the stem. As the borer increases in size, it en- 

 larges the hole communicating with its burrow, to admit of 

 the more ready passage of its castings, and to afford it the 

 means of escape when it is transformed to a moth. The infe- 

 rior size of the fruit affords an indication of the operations of 

 the borers ; and the perforated stems frequently break off at 

 the part affected, or, if of sufficient size still to support the 

 weight of the foliage and fruit, they soon become sickly, and 

 finally die. In some gardens, nearly every currant-bush has 

 been attacked by these borers; and instances are known to 

 me wherein all attempts to raise currant-bushes from cuttings 

 have been baffled, during the second or third year of the growth 

 of the plants, by the ravages of these insects. They complete 

 their transformations, and appear in the moth state, about the 

 middle of June. The moth is of a blue-black color ; its wings 

 are transparent, but veined and fringed with black, and across 

 the tips of the anterior pair there is a broad band, which is 

 more or less tinged with copper-color ; the under side of the 



