404 
shoots in the middle of the bush, (this 
is very material tobe /known, as will 
hereafter appear;) and, when these 
interior leaves are consumed, the ca- 
terpillars then gradually ascend, until 
the whole bush is denuded, and, con- 
sequently, the fruit spoiled. 
To those who are unacquainted 
with the fly itself, a particular de- 
scription of it may not be uninterest- 
ing. The flies, if attentively observed, 
may be first seen in the latter end of 
March and the beginning of April, as 
before remarked; but the first notice 
that we have of the destroying cater- 
pillar is the skeleton leaves, and, 
when it has done most of its mischief, 
then people set about picking them 
off; but this, though it is a temporary 
relief, is a troublesome task, and an 
endless and ineffectual remedy; be- 
cause, though many adult caterpillars 
are removed, there are thousands still 
left behind in the egg, on the inside 
of the leaves, which cannot be disco- 
vered without turning every leaf up- 
side down: the eggs are then easily 
discovered, like as many little pearls, 
froma dozen to twenty in number, 
about the size of pins’ heads, not round 
but oval, and whitish. It is seldom 
that the first stock of flies do much 
mischief; the leaves grow too rapidly 
for the caterpillars to destroy, and 
they are supplied with sufficient food 
until they drop into the. ground; they 
are then formed into the pupa, from 
whence, after a short time, a second 
generation of flies are produced, who 
perform the same operations of in- 
crease and mischief as their parents, 
and so on to a third, a fourth, and 
fifth, when the season is favourable, 
until the approach of winter puts an 
end to their devastations. The last, 
or autumnal caterpillars, fall into the 
ground, where they remain in the 
aurelia state: until the succeeding 
spring. Ihave some now by me ina 
box, that I put aside in October last, 
which are not yet changed into the 
fly. In an unfavourable season, we 
seldom see any after the first appear- 
ance.:: Upon) the season, then, and 
other causes, depends all the first and 
successive operations of this: perni- 
cious little reptile, the name of which 
itis necessary to know before any re- 
medy can be applied. 
Mr. Sturt seems to understand that 
the caterpillar first, appears; the fact 
is, that the fly first appears; as is 
agreeable to the nature of all insects 
Description of the Gooseberry Caterpillar, 
[June 7, 
which undergo the ‘common transfor- 
mation ‘of the! butterfly: tribe, oLowill 
endeavour ‘to’ give an exact descrip- 
tion sof ‘the ‘female flyo:%n the: first 
place, it is‘a very dull, stupid, ttle 
animal, that will, allow wtself to'be 
caught without the least difficulty: 
it has two horns or feelers }:a: head 
very dark, with two largeveyes four 
transparent. wings; the body'r car- 
ease a light orange colour, not:so 
large as a grain of wheat when fulbof 
eggs; the shoulders dark, to:which 
are affixed six legs, three on aside, 
also orange colour, having three joints; 
five black spots on the last joint: of 
each leg. It is a fly in every respect, 
having no resemblance whatever to a 
moth or butterfly ; and, with the’ ex- 
ception of the horns or feelers) and 
yellow body, it is very much like the 
small house-fly, the wings being’ quite 
smooth and transparent, resembling 
fine isinglass, of a snufi-colour) tint; 
and free of all that down or feather 
which covers the wings of butterflies 
and moths. Still it must be admitted 
to be among the genus of the moth'or 
butterfly; as they do not appear to 
take any food, and undergo the common 
transformation from the egg to the 
caterpillar, the aurelia, and the fly.* 
There is a black stripe on the outer 
part of the two largest wings. ‘The 
whole insect is not above the third: of 
an inch in length, which seems the 
more surprizing, as it produces such 
a pernicious race of destructive cater- 
pillars, at their full size nearly’ an 
inch long. Their habit is to perch’ on 
the outside of a gooseberry or currant 
leaf, and then immediately to creep 
on, the inside, when they directly be- 
gin to drop their eggs on the ribs: of 
the leaf. Thus, to a person who does 
not know the fly, and watch hermotions, 
the parent of these millions’ of insects 
is unknown; and people wonder, as 
the cause is unseen, from whence and 
from what these caterpillars proceed: 
but something cannot come; out of 
nothing. It is generally. imagined 
that they proceed from a moth or but- 
terfly.; yet. it is. admitted that no 
moth or butterfly is ever seen about 
these bushes; but 'the fact is; that the 
mother of all this mischief is the little 
fly which I have described. 
* <A’ fly in entomology is an order of 
imsects, the distinguishing character’ of 
which is, that their wings are transparent. 
By this they are distinguished from moths, 
butterflies, &c.” ’ 
The 
