INSECTS AFFECTING CURRANTS AND 

 GOOSEBERRIES. 



INJURING THE STEM. 



The Imported Currant-borer. 



Aegeria tipuliformis. 



This insect is a small, whitish larva that burrows 

 up and down the stems of currants, weakening them 

 so that they are checked in growth, and appear 

 stunted and unhealthy. It hatches from eggs de- 

 posited singly, on the young stems near the buds, 

 early in summer, by a beautiful, clear-winged, wasp- 

 like moth, represented twice natural size at Plate II, 

 Fig. 4 (p. 28). This moth has a bluish-black body, 

 with three golden-yellow transverse bands across the 

 abdomen. It measures from tip to tip of the ex- 

 panded wings nearly three-quarters of an inch. The 

 wings are transparent except at the borders, where 

 they are brownish-black. 



A few days after the egg is deposited it hatches 

 into a small larva that gnaws through the stem to 

 the center, where it feeds on the pith. It continues 

 so to do all summer, making a burrow several inches 

 in length. When full grown the larva eats nearly 

 through the stem wall, leaving only the membran- 

 ous outer bark, and then changes to a chrysalis 

 within the burrow. When the chrysalis is ready to 

 transform it wriggles partially out of this opening, 



