THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



2.! 



berry bushes, about the middle or last of June. The per- 

 fect insect is a pale yellowish moth, the wings with seve- 

 ral more or less dusky spots, sometimes arranged into one 

 or two irregular bands across the v/ings. 



Dr. Fitch has described and figured this insect in its 

 different stages, in the Transactions of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society. Vol. 7, where he gives much 

 interesting information concerning its habits, and sugges- 

 tions for its extermination. On this latter subject Dr. 

 Fitch says: 



"This Insect is so closely related to the Gooseberry- 

 moth of Europe, that we may confidently infer, that those 

 measures only which have been found efficacious for 

 checking the ravages of that species, can be of material 

 avail against this. Numerous remedies have there been re- 

 sorted to, such as sifting the finedustof soot, of ashes, Ac, 

 repeatedly over the bushes : sprinkling with lime-water, 

 or with decoctions of tobacco, of fux-glove, of elder, Ac; 

 by successive shakes of the bushes, causing all the worms 

 to descend to the ground, and then lying cabbage-leaves 

 around the base of the stalks,over which, it was reported, 

 the worms would not crawl to re-ascend. But none of 

 these remedies have "established themselves in public 

 favor; and the only measure which is recommended with 

 confidence, by all the more intelligent writers, is'that of 

 'hand-picking,' as it is termed. This, though tedious, is 

 Baid to be, in the end, the most economical of any raea- 

 Bure known, and the only one on which full reliance can 

 be placed. It is commonly accomplished by suddenly 

 jarring the bush, and then with a forked stick or some 

 similar implement, gathering those worms that have let 

 themselves down by threads, and crushing them beneath 

 the foot. This -process requires to be repeated three or 

 four times to free a bush from these worms, as but part of 

 them let themselves down on the first agitation. 



"This remedy should be resorted to with our insect as 

 soon as the youngAvorms are discovered upon the bushes, 

 and if perseveringly followed up, will, no doubt, be effec- 

 tual. -The task, however, will be a formidable one, to 

 thus free a garden of countless numbers of these larvas by 

 which it is infested; and the measure can only be re- 

 sorted to with facility in those gardens where the bushes 

 are kept well thinned by pruning. 



" A less laborious mode of reducing the numbers of our 

 moth, in badly infested gardens, it strikes me is so feasi- 

 ble, that some may be disposed to test its efficacy by 

 giving it a trial. As already stated, the worms having 

 completed their growth, bury themselves slightly in the 

 ground under the bushes, where they lie several days in 

 their pupa state, and then the winged moths'come from 

 these pupae and make their way out of the ground. Now 

 if the suri'ace of the, earth beneath Currant and Goose- 

 berry bushes be carefully levelled 'and made smooth with 

 a rake, it will be but a slight labor, when the worms have 

 mostly left the bushes and buried themselves, to closely 

 cover the ground beneath and around the bushes with 

 boards, or pave it with bricks, should these be at hand, 

 allowing this covering to remain three or four weeks. 

 The winged moths, on coming from their pupa shells, 

 would probably then be unable to make their way into 

 the air, and would perish in their confinement. The effi- 

 cacy of this measure would be indicated, on removing 

 the boards, by the numbers of dead moths on the surface 

 of the ground beneath them." 



There is another worm which is said to be very de- 

 structive to the Currant and Gooseberry bushes, and 

 which does not seem to have been mentioned by either 

 Harris or Fitch. We copy the following account of this 

 insect, given by Mr. Otis Bigelow of Onondago Co., N. Y., 

 in the American Agriculturist for May 1865, p. 141 : — 



"About three years since, people in this vicinity were 

 surprised to find their Currant and Gooseberry bushes 

 suddenly deprived of their leaves. On examination we 

 found the bushes covered with a myriad of green worms, 

 speckled with black spots on the back and sides, and about 

 three-quarters of an inch long when full grown. As soon 

 as the leaves start in the .Spring, a fly appears and lays 

 its eggs along the stems on the under side of the leaf, or 

 some of the leaves in the middle of the bush ; these soon 

 hatch and devour all the leaves clean, for about a week, 

 when they change their skins to a pale green, and falling 



to the ground, disappear. By sifting the earth under the 

 bushes, they will be found enclosed in little balls of it. 

 In three weeks they come out as flies ; the. size of a com- 

 mon fly, which theynearlyresemble, excepting that they 

 are more slim and have a yellow abdomen. The repro- 

 duction of these worms is continued until all the leaves 

 are destroyed. Remedv.— Dig up all the bushes that can- 

 not be personally attended, and trim the remainder so as 

 to leave them open and accessible. Visit them at least 

 once every day. Look for leaves with little holes in them. 

 The littlcholes indicate the presence of the newly hatched 

 worms, which are not seen unless the leaf is turned up, 

 as they always begin on the under side. By destroying 

 four or.'five leaves on each bush per day the whole may 

 be saved, as only a few leaves are selected by the fly to 

 deposit her eggs. The worms never touch the fruit, and 

 the stripping of the leaves does not prevent a new growth 

 the same season, but these will no sooner appear than 

 they are destroyed." 



This worm is the larva of a Hymenopterous insect, Se- 

 landria Ribis of Prof A. Winchell, who published an ac- 

 count of its history in the Detroit I'ree Press of July 9th, 

 1S64; the same article is published, in a condensed form, 

 in Silliman's American Journal of Science and Arts, Sep- 

 tember, 1864, p. 291. We shall publish, in a subsequent 

 number of the Bulleti.v, a detailed history of this destruc- 

 tive insect, by a correspondent who is now gathering the 

 necessary information. 



J^J. — Affecting the fruit. 

 Dr. Fitch (ibid.) mentions two insects which attack the 

 fruit of the Gooseberry, viz : the " Gooseberry Moth" and 

 the " Gooseberry Midge." The first, in its larval state, is 

 a "slender greenish worm, about half an inch long, with 

 a dark colored nose, a dark band across the top of its 

 neck, and the three forward pairs of feet of the same color, 

 which forms a tube of silken threads from the cavity in 

 the berry through a hole in its side to an adjacent leaf, 

 through which it crawls out and in." The fruit, when 

 about half grown, perishes, its interior being ate out by 

 the worm. So far as known, this insect has not been ob- 

 tained in its perfect or "moth" state, but Dr. Fitch sup- 

 poses it to belong to Tineidce, a family of Micro-Lepidop- 

 tera, or small moths. 



The "Gooseberry Midge" {Cecidomyiagrosaularice, Fitch) 

 is a minute, yellowish, two-winged fly, somewhat resem- 

 bling a mosquito. The perfect insect punctures the young 

 fruit of the Gooseberry, and deposits its tiny eggs therein; 

 these eggs develop into minute, bright yellow maggots, 

 which cause the fruit to have a prematurely ripe appear- 

 ance, turning red and dropping off. 



As a remedy against these insects. Dr. Fitch suggests 

 the following: — "All fruit upon the Gooseberry bushes 

 which is found prematurely decaying and assuming a ri- 

 pened appearance, and all which falls to the ground, 

 should be gathered and thrown into the fire, to destroy 

 the worms which the berries contain. By attention to 

 this measure the haunts of this insect in the garden can 

 be easily broken up, whereas, if this step is neglected the 

 evil will be liable to continue year after year. As this 

 insect breeds equally well in the wild Gooseberries, we 

 cannot hope to exterminate it from our country. But 

 none of these wild Gooseberries should be permitted to 

 grow in thevicinityof the gardens, for from them, if near, 

 this midge will continually be finding its way to tl»e 

 bushes of the cultivated Gooseberry." (First Beptyrt, p. 

 176.) 



^^@~ Those of our Western readers who have informa- 

 tion to communicate for publication in the Bulletin, will 

 please forward it as early in the month as possible, to 



Besj. D. Walsh, Esq., Rock Island, 111. 



