INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



427 



THE IMPORTED CURRANT BORER 



JEgeria tipuliformis Clerck (Family iEgeriidse) 200 



[Sesia tipuliformis (Clerck)] 



(Figs. 435, 436) 



Description. — The adult females are clear-winged moths with deli- 

 cate, slender bodies about | inch long and a wing expanse of from § 

 to f inch. The general color is jet black with deep blue iridescence. 

 There is a' yellow band around the base of the head, three distinct and 

 two indistinct yellow bands around the abdomen and two oblique longi- 

 tudinal yellow stripes on the thorax. Because of sunshine these lines 

 and bands are misleading in the photograph (Pig. 435), excepting the 

 last two abdominal rings in the left-band specimen. The areas on the 

 thorax just below the wings are also yellow. The front wings are 



Fig 



435. — Adults of the imported currant borer, JEgeria tipuliformis Clerck. 

 Enlarged twice. (Author's illustration, Mo. Bui. Cal. Hort. Com.) 



opaque along the borders, with a small band inclosing a clear area near 

 the opaque tips, which are bronze. The hind wings are clear, excepting 

 a brown border. The legs are banded yellow and black with the inner 

 sides of tibiae and tarsi yellow and the outer sides black. The larvae 

 are slightly more than | inch in length and yellowish white, with dark 

 heads. The chrysalids are amber brown. The eggs are globular and 

 light brown. 



Life History. — The eggs are laid singly in May and -lime upon the 

 canes, near the buds, of currant and gooseberry, on wood less than one 

 year old. From twenty to sixty are laid by each female. They hatch 

 very quickly, and the larvae at once bore into the cane and work upon 

 the inner pith during the summer and fall. By winter the burrows 

 extend, many of them to the roots, where most of the larvae hibernate 

 during the winter. In the spring pupation takes place within the bur- 

 rows, lasting from two to three weeks, and the adults emerge in May 

 and June, by means of holes cut through the sides of the stems. They 

 may be found about the plants during the hottest part of the day. 



