THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 9 



what are the actual facts ? On the one hand we see a Native Ameri- 

 can species — which must have existed here from time immemorial, 

 feeding on our wild Gooseberries and perhaps on our wild Red Cur- 

 rant, and which yet has troubled our tame Gooseberries and tame 

 Red Currants so very slightly, that it cannot be proved with abso- 

 lute certainty to have ever done so at all, except in Rock Island 

 county, Ills., and in Scott county, Iowa.* 



On the other hand we see a species, only introduced into this 

 country, from Europe, some twelve years ago, which has already 

 almost put a stop to the cultivation of the Gooseberry and 

 Red Currant throughout a large part of the State of New 

 York, the northern borders of Pennsylvania, and the whole of 

 Oanada West, and is slowly but surely extending itself in all 

 directions from the point where it was originally imported. What 

 can be the reason of such a wide difference in the noxious powers of 

 two such closely allied insects, feeding on exactly the same plants, 

 but one of them indigenous to America and the other imported into 

 America from Europe? Nor is this the only case of the kind. We 

 can point out at least three other such cases. The Imported Onion- 

 fly (Anthomyia ceparum), is a terrible pest to the onion-grower in 

 the East, though it has not yet made its way out West. On the other 

 hand, the ^ative American Onion-fly (Ortalis arcuata, Walker), 

 which is a closely allied species and has almost exactly the same 

 habits, has only been heard of in one or two circumscribed localities 

 in the West, and even there does comparatively but little damage. 

 Again, the Imported Oyster-shell Bark-louse (Aspidiotus conchifor- 

 mis) is a far worse foe to the Apple and certain other fruit trees lhan 

 our indigenous Harris's Bark louse, (Asp. Ilarrisii), though each of 

 them infests the same species. Finally, the imported Meal-worm 

 beetle (Tenebrio molitor) swarms throughout the whole United 

 States, and is a great pest ; while the Native American species ( Tene- 

 brio obscurus), which has almost exactly the same habits, belongs to 

 the same genus, and is of very nearly the same size, shape and color, 

 is comparatively quite rare among us, and is scarcely known to our 

 millers and flour-dealers. 



On a careful and close examination, it will be found that almost 

 all our worst insect foes have been imported among us from the 



«In Volump 15 of the Prairie Farmer, page 504, a correspondent from Jefferson county, 

 Iowa, states that as early as June 11th, in the year 1865, " a small green worm had tali en the 

 lion's shiire of his currants and gooseberries." This may possibly refer to the Native Currant 

 Worm, which feeds upon gooseberry and currant leaves, but it more probably means the Goose- 

 berry Fruit-worm (Pempelia grosmlaria, Packard,) which feeds upon the gooseberries and currants 

 themselves, and which may be found figured and described in our First Missouri Report, page 140. 

 What a vast fund of information is scientifically unavailable, simply because correspondents are 

 so stingy with their pen, ink and paper. Again the editor of the Faimers' Union, published at Min- 

 neapolis, Minn., says in a recent number of that paper, that several gardens in that vicinity have been 

 for the past few years infested with the Currant worm, and that last year they visited his own gar- 

 den for the second time, having, the previous year, made sad havoc with the foliage before they 

 were discovered. Now, as there are three perfectly distict worms which attack the leaves of cur- 

 rant bushes, and as the editor contents himself with referring to "The Currant Worm," the infor- 

 mation he imparts is perfectly valueless to the Entomologist, and the practical man may be led 

 astray by the remedies suggested. 



