102 INSECTS AFFECTING THE CURRANT. 



Remedies. — The fruit injured by these caterpil- 

 lars is so conspicuous that hand-picking is a practi- 

 cal remedy. This must be done rapidly as the larvse 

 wriggle out of the cases and drop to the ground 

 quickly when disturbed. If chickens are allowed to 

 run over the ground after the fruit is gathered they 

 will scratch up and devour many of the pupse. So 

 also will many be destroyed if the fallen leaves and 

 rubbish are raked together and burned in autumn. 



Other Currant and Gooseberry Insects. 



There are a number of other insects that occasion- 

 ally attack these fruits. The stems are sometimes 

 infested by the Currant Bark -louse (Lecanium ribis) 

 and the American Currant-borer (Psenocerus superno- 

 tatus) ; the leaves are attacked by the Currant Span- 

 worm (Eufitchia ribearia) and various other caterpil- 

 lars, as well as the Four-striped Plant-bug (Poecilo- 

 capsus lineatus), and the fruit is liable to injury from 

 various insects, especially the Currant Fruit-worm 

 (Eupithecia interruptofasciata), the Currant Fly (Epoch- 

 ra canadensis) and the Gooseberry Midge (Cecidomyia 

 grossularife): But these species are rarely sufficiently 

 numerous to require special remedial treatment. 



Summary of Treatment.— About the only regu- 

 lar treatment currants and gooseberries require is 

 that of spraying or dusting with hellebore, soon after 

 the leaves expand, to destroy the Imported Currant 

 Worm. Stems which at that time show by their 

 drooping foliage and weak appearance that they are 

 probably infested by borers, should be cut and burned. 



