TO SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A Gooseberry Fruit-worm. 



A gentleman from Delhi, N. Y., writes : 



I find my gooseberries dropping badly, and have experienced the 

 same trouble for the two years past. Upon examination for the cause, 

 I find that nearly every berry contains a small white worm between the 

 skin and the pulp, which sometimes has worked its way into a seed. I 

 send some of the fruit picked up from under the bushes, and think that 

 you will find the worm in each. The worms are not more than one- 

 eighth of an inch in length. Can you suggest a remedy for next year, 

 as I presume the work is done for this season ? 



A portion only of the gooseberries sent contained the " worm " — those 

 which were discolored and shriveled. In the others, although each bore a 

 scar as if an egg had been deposited, no living thing could be found. 



The depredator is the larva of a lepidopterous insect — a small moth, 

 and in all probability that described by Dr. Packard as Pempclia grossii- 

 lariiE, and more lately known as Dakriima coiivohttella (Hiibn.). At this 

 stage of growth, it is impossible to identify positively the larva from the 

 description published of the adult form. Later, if it be found that 

 when the interior of the berry has been consumed, the larva passes^ 

 into an adjoining one through a silken tube with which it connects the 

 two, then scarcely a doubt will remain of its being the above-named 

 species which was first detected by Dr. Fitch, in the State of New 

 York, about the year 1855. Its natural history was worked out by Mr. 

 Saunders, of London, Ontario, ten years later, and from material fur- 

 nished by him, it was described and named by Dr. Packard, in his 

 Guide to the Study of Insects. 



Mr. Saunders states that the moth appears abroad in the month of 

 April, and is ready to deposit its eggs as soon as the fruit is well formed. 

 The larva hatches and usually completes its growth about the middle of 

 June, when it lowers itself to the ground, and constructs its cocoon 

 among the leaves or in the superficial soil. Its pupation continues 

 through the winter, the moth making its appearance in the early spring, 

 as above stated. 



If care be taken to pick from the bushes all the prematurely 

 ripening and shriveled fruit, and all that drops to the ground, this in- 

 sect need not prove a serious pest. One caterpillar allowed to mature, 

 may the following season be the progenitor of fifty or more depredators 

 upon the same bushes. 



Dusting the bushes with fresh air-slacked lime about the time when 

 the eggs are deposited — the last of April or first of May — is recom- 

 mended, and has been thought to be attended with beneficial results in 

 keeping away the moth. 



