46 



THE IMPORTED CURRANT WORM. 



{Nematus ventricosus, Klug.) 

 (Order Hymenopteea. Family Tentheedinid^.) 



[Feeding upon the leaves of the Currant ; a false Caterpillar of a 

 greenish color, marked with numerous raised black spots, and pro- 

 vided with twenty legs.] 



This insect was imported into this country about the year 1858, 

 being first seen in the vicinity of Toronto, Canada, and shortly 

 afterwards it made its appearance in the vicinity of Rochester, New 

 York. Like a great many other imported insects, it is much more 

 injurious than any native species having similar habits. I first ob- 

 served it in this locality in the year 1880, when it appeared m a 

 few gardens in limited numbers. The present season (1881) it ap- 

 peared in immense numbers, utterly defoliating the currant bushes 

 in many gardens. It appears to be very local in its habits, as I 

 have known, it to occur upon the bushes in certain gardens in suffi- 

 cient numbers to entirely defoliate them, while the bushes growing 

 just across the road were not infested by it. 



These worms when fully grown measure a little over three-fourths 

 of an inch in length, are of a greenish color, and the fore and hind 

 parts of the body are usually tinged with yellow ; up to the last moult 

 the body is thickly covered with raised black spots, and on each 

 side of the body are about ten raised black spots which are larger 

 than any of the others ; on the posterior end of the last segment is 

 a large black spot and two black prickles ; the head is polished 

 black. At the last moult or casting of the skin the body is of a 

 uniform greenish color, being entirely destitute of the raised black 

 spots with which it was covered in its earlier stages. The body is 

 provided with twenty legs, six of which are of a hard, bony texture, 

 and are placed beneath the first three segments back of the head ; 

 the other legs are soft and fleshy, and are placed in pairs beneath 

 the remaining segments ; one pair to each segment, except the 

 fourth and eleventh segments, which are entirely destitute of legs. 

 When first hatched the young worms eat small holes in the leaves, 

 working mostly from the underside. After increasing somewhat in 

 size they feed from the edge of the leaf and usually devour the 



