﻿NINTH ANNUAL EEPOET 



which is now so scarce that it cannot be had in the market. The por- 

 tion on the Gooseberry Span-worm was written by myself; that on 

 the Currant worms by my associate, B. D. Walsh, the facts in posses- 

 sion of either being interchanged, as was our custom. While I am 

 able to record some interesting observations made since that time, 

 the article was to that extent exhaustive of the subject, that I shall 

 quote liberally from it, rather than recast the facts in diliereat lan- 

 guage. 



Notwithstanding that the Currant and Gooseberry differ so much 

 in general appearance — the former being a smooth-stemmed shrub, 

 bearing its flowers and fruit in a raceme, while the latter has, as a rule, 

 thorny and prickly stems, and bears its berries singly — they are placed 

 by botanists in the same genus [Rihes). Our common Garden Goose- 

 berry {Riles grossularia) was imported from Europe, but we have four 

 wild species commonly found in the Northern States ; and besides these 

 four there is a Californian species, the Showy Gooseberry {R. speoio- 

 sum) which is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental plant in our 

 gardens, for the sake of its fine, deep-red, pendant flowers. On the 

 contrary, our common Red Currant (R. rubruvi)., of which the White 

 is a mere variety, is indigenous in the more Northern States, from New 

 Hampshire to Wisconsin, though also a native of Europe ; while on 

 the other hand, the Black Currant of our gardens (R. 7iigrum) is a 

 European plant, considered by botanists to be distinct from the Ameri- 

 can wild Black Currant {R. Horidum). Besides these, we have three 

 other currants peculiar to America, the Prostrate or Fetid Currant 

 {R.prostratum) found in cold Northern woods, the Missouri or Golden 

 Currant, [R. aureum) and the Red-flowered Currant {R. sanguineum) 

 both of which are natives of the Far West, and are cultivated chiefly 

 for ornament. 



These botanical details will not be uninteresting by way of pre- 

 face to what follows; for the three worms to be described, while they 

 are found indiscriminately on the Red Currant and Gooseberry, are 

 not found on the Black Cufrant.* 



Our Wild Black Currant has a Lepidopterous borer peculiar to 

 it; while the common Currant-borer of our gardens {JE.tipuliform.isy 

 which belongs to the very same genus ; and the Common Currant 

 Plant-louse {Aphis rihis) both confine their attacks to the Red Cur- 

 rant, and do not afl'ect the Black Currant or the Gooseberry. These 

 facts are not only very interesting as showing the slight discrimination 



♦Mr. Samirlers records (Can. Ent. II. 147) having found the Imported Ciirrant-worm in the act of 

 feeding not only on the Black Currant, but also on the Plum; but the fact that all larv;o which he 

 endeavored to nar on such leaves eventually died, shows how exceptional and abnormal is their feed- 

 ing on those plants, and ihat they cannot, in the true tense of the word, be considered Black Currant or 

 Plum feeders. 



