23 



THE CUREANT FRUIT WORM. 



(Eupithecia interriqyto-fasciata, Packard.) 



(Order Lepidoptera, Family Phal^enid^.) 



[Eating out the interior of green Currants, a greenish, ten-legged 

 span-worm, having a row of brownish spots on the back.] 



The Currant appears to suffer more from the attacks of insects 

 than any other of our small fruits. Its stems are infested by no 

 less than three different kinds of borers ; its leaves are devoured by 

 two kinds of False Caterpillars, by four or five different kinds of 

 Span-worms, and by a great number of sixteen-legged caterpillars. 

 Its fruit is devoured by two different kinds of insects — the Goose- 

 berry Worm {Pempelia grossidar'ia, Packard), and by the Span-worm 

 now under consideration, and to which I .have given the name of 

 the Currant Fruit Worm. It is at once distinguished from the Goose- 

 berry Worm — the only other species known to me to attack currants — by 

 never living in a silken tube, and also by its legs, which are only 

 ten in number, while the Gooseberry Worm is provided with six- 

 teen. 



During the past season (1881) the Currant Fruit Worms appear^ed 

 in considerable numbers in this locality (McHenry county. 111.,) 

 doing much damage ; not so much by what is devoured as by what 

 is spoiled, as its usual habit is to eat a large hole in one side of 

 the berry, devour the interior, and leave the remaining part un- 

 touched. In this way its ravages were of a more serious nature 

 than they would have been had it devoured the whole berry; and 

 as if this were not enough to bring upon it the odium of the whole 

 race, it has the pernicious habit of selecting the largest, finest 

 berries upon which to feed. Besides the currant, it also appeared 

 in limited numbers upon the raspberries, but these did not appear 

 to be so pleasant to its tastes as the red currants. I have also 

 found it feeding upon the pistils and stamens of a great many 

 different kinds of flowers. 



It first makes its appearance about the second week in May, and 

 is to be found from this date up to the fore part of October. When 

 fully grown it measures about five-eighths of an inch in length ; it 

 varies considerably in its colors and markings. Its body is pale 



