102 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



reason to account for a fact, only to 

 make his sublime ignorance manifest ? 

 The most troublesome of the currant- 

 worm is known as the Gooseberry 

 Saw-fly, Nematus Ventricosus, an im- 

 ported insect, which in the larva state 

 is exceedingly destructive to both the 

 gooseberry and currant. 



Larvae of the Gooseberry Saw-Fly. 



The figures marked a in the accom- 

 panying illustration will be sufficiently 

 familiar to those of our readers who 

 have suffered from the depredations of 

 these little pests ; and if any have been 

 so fortunate as to have escaped a visit 

 from them, they will now have an 

 opportunity of making their acquain- 

 tance. Jt is during this, the larva stage 

 of their existence, that they are so 

 injurious to our currants and goose- 

 berries, being not only voracious, but 

 usually numerous, so that they strip a 

 plant of its leavers in a very short time. 

 When two-thirds grown they are of a 

 green color, thickly sprinkled with 

 black dots. These dots are shown 

 Considerably magnified at b. When 

 fully grown they are about three- 

 quarters of an inch long, and at the 

 last moult they loose their black 

 spots and assume a plain green dress, 



tinged with yellow at the extremities. 

 They now seek out a convenient place 

 in which to pass the chrysalis state ; 

 sometimes they choose a place among 

 the dry leaves on the surface of the 

 ground, where they spin a cocoon over 

 themselves, oval in form, of a paper 

 like iexture and brownish colour ; and 

 sometimes they fasten their cocoons to 

 the stem of the bush. Sometimes they 

 go into the ground and spin their co- 

 coon thei'e, and the later broods pass the 

 winter in the pupa state on or under 

 the surface of the ground. The Prest. 

 of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 

 who is excellent authority on these 

 subjects, states at page 33 of the Ent- 

 omological Report for 1875, that this 

 insect passes the winter in the ground 

 in the chrysalis state ; and again in the 

 Report for 1871, he says it usually 

 passes the winter in the chrysalis state, 

 enclosed in a small papeiy looking, 

 silken cocoon, sometimes at, and some- 

 times under the surface of the ground. 

 Occasionally they pass the winter in 

 the caterpillar state. The pupa or 

 chrysalis is about a quarter of an inch 

 long, of a very pale and delicate whitish 

 green color, becoming yellowish green 

 at each extremity, remarkably trans- 

 parent and delicate. 



From these pupse the perfect insects 

 are hatched, which are shown in the 

 accompanying cut, the figure a repre- 

 sents the male, and figure b the female, 

 both magnified ; the cross lines indic- 

 ating the length and wing-expansion 

 of each. These appear very early in 

 spring, usually sometimes before the 

 leaves of the gooseberry and currant 

 are expanded. The upper surface of 

 the body of the male is black, with a 

 yellow spot at the base and in front of 

 the fore wings, the underside and tip 

 of the abdomen are yellowish, and the 

 legs are yellow. The female is larger 

 than the male and mostly yellow. 

 After the leaves of the gooseberry have 



