122 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the United States for its very excellent and exten- 

 sive nurseries. 



I find in the New York Tribune, (July 27, 1S66) 

 the fullowing statement which is apparently copied 

 from the Pittshurg Gazettr. It evidently refers to 

 this same insect, and confirms the conclusion ar- 

 rived at above. As to these worms ever "desistiug 

 aud disappearing," that is very problematical. 

 They may, and probably will, be worse some years 

 than others; but wherever they have established 

 themselves, there they will remain, in all proba- 

 bility, for ages and ages. The currants of infested 

 bushes are likely enough unwholesome, but they 

 can scarcely be " poisonous." 



In the northeastern counties [of Pennsylvania] a worm 

 has destroyed the currants, by rendering them poisonous; 

 in multiplied instances killing the bushes. This pest was 

 imported from England four years ago, by Barry and Ell- 

 wanger of Rochester, N. Y., on a lot of gooseberry bushes. 

 It is about three-quarters of an inch long. It multiplies 

 its progeny almost incredibly. These worms attack the 

 leaves, which they entirely devour. By reason of the de- 

 struction of the foliage the fruit becomes unfit for use. 

 These worms travel more than a hundred miles a year, 

 and will probably plague the country before they desist 

 and disappear. 



The mode in which this in.sect has been trans- 

 mitted, first from the European nursery to the 

 American nursery, and afterwards all over the 

 the country, may be easily explained. As has been 

 already stated, it passes the autumn and winter in 

 the ground under the bushes where it has fed, 

 housed in a little oval cocoon from J to i inch long. 

 Hence if, as often happens, bushes are taken up in 

 the autumn or early in the spring with a little dirt 

 adhering to their roots, that dirt will likely enough 

 enclose a cocoon or two. A single pair of cocoons, 

 if they happen to contain individuals of opposite 

 sexes, will be sufficient to start a new colony. The 

 first and probably the second year the larvae will 

 not be noticed ; but increasing, as almost all in- 

 sects do, unless checked from some extraneous 

 source, in a fearfully rapi(> geometric progression, 

 by the third or fourth year they will swarm, strip 

 the bushes completely bare of their leaves, and ruin 

 the prospect for a good crop of fruit. Of course, 

 like other winged insects, they can fly from garden 

 to garden in search of a suitable spot whereon to 

 deposit their eggs; so that any point where they 

 have been once imported becomes, in a few years, a 

 new centre of distribution for the immediate neigh- 

 borhood. 



Nurserymen and all others, importing Gooseber- 

 ry and Currant bushes from a distance, should be 

 particularly careful, before they plant them, to wash 

 t'le roots thoroughly in a tuh of water, and burn or 

 scald ii'hatever comes off them. By attending to 

 this precaution the des.semi nation of this mischiev- 

 ous little pest, throughout the United States, may 

 be greatly retarded for many years to come. For 

 those who are already cursed with it, I cannot do 

 better than to copy the very sensible directions of 

 Mr. Bigelow : — 



Remedy. — Big up all the bushes that cannot be personal- 

 ly 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 little holes 

 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 arc de- 

 stroyed." 



In the annexed figure, which has been drawn 

 from specimens kindly furnished to me by Dr. 

 Smith of New York, the portion of the currant leaf 

 marked (1) shows how the eggs are laid by the 

 mother-fly on the under surface of the leaf along 

 the principal veins. That marked (2) shows the 

 "little holes" spoken of by Mr. Bigelow as bored 

 by the very young worms; and that marked (3) 

 the holes bor^d by larger larvaj. It is evident that 

 such holes may be readily recognized, and the leaf, 

 along with the minute larvae upon it, carried far 

 away from any currant or gooseberry bushes and 

 left to wither there, or — to make assurance doubly 

 sure — thrown into the fire. If, however, the young 

 larvfB are removed a few rods away from any plant 

 belonging to the botanical genus Ribes, (Currant 

 and Gooseberry,) they will be sure to die of starva- 

 tion. For thev cannot feed on anything else, any 

 more than a Locust-borer can live in an Apple-tree. 



There is a very similar worm, which has long 

 been known to infest Currant and Gooseberry bush- 

 es in the East, and which is not an imported, but 

 a Native American insect. But it may be distin- 

 guished at a glance from the larva of the Goose- 

 berry Sawfly by its being what is popularly called 

 a "Span-worm" or "Measuring-worm" or "Looper," 

 having only ten legs, whereas our larva has twenty 

 legs, and never "loops" as it walks. Like all other 

 "loopers," this worm produces, not a four-winged 

 fly, belonging to the Order Hymenoptera, but a 

 moth or miller, belonging to the Order Lepidop- 

 tera, which has been called by Dr. Fitch, who first 

 described it, " The American Currant-moth (^Abra- 

 xas? ribearid)." 

 THE NATIVE AMERICAN GOOSEBERRY SAWFLY. 



But besides this imported Sawfly I have recent- 

 ly discovered that there is an indigenous species in 

 the Valley of the Mississippi which feeds on the 

 Gooseberry and Currant, but which differs from the 

 other one in the following respects : — \st. It be- 

 longs to a different genus — Pristiphora instead of 



