OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



203 



date. It is very abundant in the New England States, 

 and in New York and Pennsylvania, and has extended to 

 some of the Western States. The insect appears soon 

 after the Currant and Gooseberry bushes put forth their 

 leaves, and the eggs are laid upon the under surface of the 

 lower leaves, along the principal veins. The eggs hatch 

 in a week or ten days into a pale, twenty-legged Cater- 

 piller, with a large dull whitish head. They soon become 

 green, and acquire shining black spots on the^ body, and 

 the head becomes black. 

 The full-grown worms 

 are about three-fourths 

 of an inch long and are 

 shown in various posi- 

 tions in figure 124, a\ 1) 

 gives the position of the 

 black spots upon a mag- 

 nified joint of the body. 

 When they have com- 

 pleted their growth, they 

 leave the bushes, and 

 either hide just below 

 the surface of the 

 ground, or ' under any 

 leaves that may be on 

 the surface, spin a thin 

 cocoon of brownish silk, within which they assume the 

 pupa state. Late in June, or early in July, sometimes 

 not until August, the perfect insects appear; a second 

 crop of eggs is laid, and the same round is repeated; but 

 this second brood does not issue from the pupa until the 

 following spring. The perfect insect is shown in figure 

 125, a being the male, and 1) the female, the lines show- 

 ing the actual size. 



Those who receive Currant bushes from a distance, in 

 order to avoid the introduction of this insect in the pupa 



Fig. 125. THE PERFECT INSECT, 

 a, Male ; 6, Female. 



