304 



The Dictionary of Gardening, 



Ribes — continued. 

 spot are three black warts, each bearing a black bristle. 

 The pupa is suspended in a slight web among the leaves 

 on the bushes. The same remedies may be used against 

 these insects as against the Magpie Moth. 



Sawflies are frequently most hurtful to Gooseberries, 

 and to Red and White Currants. {See Gooseberry and 

 Cnrrant Sawfly for a short account of Nematug Ribesii, 

 the most hurtful species. But the account there giyen 

 is so incomplete, that we supplement it here, in view 

 of the very great damage often done by the larva; to 

 Gooseberry and Currant-bushes, which, at times, they 

 completely strip of their leaves.) The insects (see Fig. 

 374) are clay-yellow, with three large, black marks on 

 the back of the thorax, one on the breast, and others on 

 the sides. The legs are pale, except dark tips to the 

 last pair : the antenna; are dark. The wings are hyaline, 

 with a black stigma. The body is ^in. or iin. long. 

 The insects vary in the amount of black upon them, 

 occasionally having even the abdomen almost black. 

 The eggs are laid on the veins of the lower surface of 

 the leaf, in which the young larvse eat little holes at 

 first ; but, after a time, they devour the whole leaf, ex- 

 cept the chief veins. The larva;, till their last moult, 

 are mostly green, studded with numerous black, shining 



Fir,. 375. Larv.i of Gooseberry and Currant Sawfly 



(Neviattfft liibe^n). 



tubercles, bearing hairs (see Fig. 37.5). The first and 

 second, and the eleventh to thirteenth, segments are 

 orange. The true legs are mostly black, and the claspers 

 are pale green. In the last moult, the tubercles are thrown 

 off, and the larvae become uniform bluish - green, with 

 an orange spot behind the head, and another on the 

 tail. When full-fed, the larva; drop to the ground, and 

 an inch or two below the surface spin brown cocoons. 

 Inside these may be found the pupa;, green or yellowish- 

 green, with orange markings on the thorax and tip of 

 the abdomen. There are usually two generations in the 

 year. 



Nemafus npperidiculatus is less often markedly in- 

 jurious to Gooseberry and Currant-bushes ; for, though 

 widely diffused thi'oughout Britain, it is not very 

 common. This Sawfly is readily distinguished from 

 N. Ribesii by its black abdomen, as well as by its more 

 truncate front wings, rather smaller size, and other minor 

 peculiarities. The larva is green, with a yellowish tint 

 on the second and eleventh and anal segments, and on 

 the posterior legs. The larvae go below ground to 

 pupate. 



Nemafus consobriiuis also feeds, in the larval state, 

 on the leaves of Gooseberries, and is not rare in Britain. 

 It much resembles N. Ribesii, but is slightly smaller 

 and duller-coloured, though it varies a good deal in 

 the latter respect. The larva is green, beset with black 

 tubercles, each bearing a hair ; the second segment, the 

 sides over the legs, and part of the last segment, 

 are yellow. At the last moult, the body becomes uniform 

 bright green, except that behind the head and on the 



Ribes — continued. 

 last segment yellow is visible. There is only one genera- 

 tion annually in Britain. 



Eemedies are specified under the heading already 

 quoted, and need not be repeated here. They are applic- 

 able to all three species of Sawflies, and are, indeed, 

 useful against all the insects that feed exposed on the 

 leaves. 



Several species of Greenflies, or Aphides (which gee), 

 live on the lower surface of the leaves of Gooseberries 

 and Currants, and frequently distort the young leaves at 

 the tips of the branches, causing these, on the Currants 

 especially, to become swollen and reddened. Besides 

 the injury thus done to the plants, the fruit suffers 

 from being covered with the sticky excretions of the 

 insects, and with the dust and soot that adhere to 

 these, and the Fungi that find suitable food in them. 

 In Buckton's " British Aphides," the following are re- 



FiG. 376. Aphis (Myzus) Ribis. 



The figure on the leaf shows the Wingless Female rather larger 

 than natural size ; the lower figure shows the Winged Female 

 much enlarged. 



corded as especially injurious, viz., Myzuf: Ribis (see 

 Fig. 37G) with cylindrical honey-tubes, and Rhopalo- 

 siphum Ribis with the honey-tubes widened in the 

 middle. Both species are green, with dark markings. 

 For remedies against these insects, see Aphides. The 

 tips of the twigs bearing distorted leaves should be cut 

 off and destroyed by fire, if practicable. Syringing the 

 bushes with water afterwards is beneficial, by cleaning 

 the leaves and fruits. 



On the Continent of Europe, of late years, a good 

 deal of injury has been done by a Gall-midge, the 

 larvfe of which feed in the flower buds, and destroy 

 them. The insects have not yet been reared. This foe 

 has not been recorded in Britain. 



The fruits are sometimes injured by the larva; of Halin 

 Wavnritt {see above) ; but the worst foos to them are 

 birds, e.g., blackbirds and thrushes. The loss from this 

 cause is easily prevented by netting bushes of any choice 

 varieties ; but probably the pl.ants benefit as much as 

 they lose when left unnetted, inasmuch as it has been 

 observed that bushes under nets are more liable than 

 others to be injured by insects. It must be remembered, 

 also, that the birds most apt to carry off the fruits of 

 Gooseberries and Currants well repay such plundering 

 by their services in destroying noxious insects, snails, 

 and other marauders during the year, besides the plea- 

 sure derived from their song. 



R. alpinum (alpine). Tasteless Mountain Currant. Jl. yellowish ; 

 racemes erect, glandular-pubescent ; males 2in. to 2iin. long, 

 twenty to thirty -flowered; females shorter, eight to ten-flowered. 

 /r. scarlet, iin. in diameter, insipid. I. l^in to 2in. in diameter, 

 broadly ovate, three to five-loVied ; lobes usually three, acute, cut, 

 and serrate, hairy. /(. 3ft. Europe (Britain), &c. Unarmed 

 shrub. (Sy, En. B. 519.) 



R. a. japonicum (Japanese), ff. jireenish, small, glomerulate 

 J'r. cherry-red. I. persistent, three-lobed, denticulate-crenate, 

 strongly nerved. Branches divaricate. It. 3ft. Japan, 1877. 



R. a. aureum (golden-leaved). A very dwarf, garden strain, with 

 yellow flowers, well adapted for rockeries, &c. 1881. 



