S70 Forty-sixth Report on the State Museum 



The Currant Aphis, Myzus ribis {Linn.). 



1 send you with this, leaves taken from the currant bushes in my gar- 

 •den which show the ravages of some insect which seems to be doing 

 •considerable injury to the bushes, or rather leaves of the same, although 

 :as yet not sufficient to prevent their bearing fruit and making consider- 

 :able growth. I first noticed their work some weeks ago in the crumpled 

 appearance of the leaves — not to any great extent then, but it has 

 steadily increased until the present time. I notice, too, of late, that a 

 ■small black ant is apparentl}^ attacking or feeding on the larvag very 

 freely on some of the bushes. 



Will you kindly inform me what the insect is, and what is the remedy 

 for the same without injury to the bushes. — C. J. H. 



Unadilla, N. Y., July 3, 1891. 



The insect that curls the leaves and lives within the folds is the cur- 

 rant aphis, Myzus rihis (Linn.), which is frequently found on currant 

 bushes from May to July. In some seasons it multiplies prodigiously and 

 proves quite injurious, while in others it is early attacked by one of its 

 natural enemies, the larva of the two-spotted lady-bug, Adalia hlpunc- 

 tata, and brought under control — at times completely exterminated, as 

 was observed in my garden the present season. A minute hymenop- 

 terous parasite also frequently attacks it by depositing an egg within 

 its body, which in a short time consumes its interior and escapes 

 through a round hole made in its back. Nearly all of those which 

 were found upon the leaves received from you had been destroyed in 

 this manner, and the little parasite has apparently been rendering you 

 valuable service. 



These plant-lice, as with most other species of the family, may be 

 killed by the application of a whale-oil soap solution, or tobacco 

 water. As these kill by contact they must be so applied as to 

 reach all of them — rather a difficult matter within their shelter 

 of curled and crumpled leaves. A Vermorel nozzle attached to 

 the hose of a force pump, will be found an efficient implement for 

 this purpose, as, by the aid of a rod, it can be held beneath the bushes, 

 and a mist-like spray thrown upward which should readily diffuse 

 itself over and within the curled foliage. 



Where this apparatus is not at hand, the bushes of a small garden 

 may be treated by bending over the branches by hand and dipping 

 and shaking them within the pail or other vessel containing the 

 insecticide. 



The little black ants that you observe in association with the 

 aphides are not destroying them, but are giving them all the protec- 

 tion in their power, even by driving away some of their predaceous 

 enemies that they may continue to feast upon the honej^-dew which 



