30* 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Bibes continued. 



spot are three black warts, each, bearing a black bristle. 

 The pupa is suspended in a slight web among the leaves 

 on the bushes. The same remedies may be used against 

 these insects as against the Magpie Moth. 



Sawflies are frequently most hurtful to Gooseberries, 

 and to Red and White Currants. (See Gooseberry and 

 Currant Sawfly for a short account of Nematus Ribesii, 

 the most hurtful species. But the account there given 

 is so incomplete, that we supplement it here, in view 

 of the very great damage often done by the larvffi to 

 Gooseberry and Currant-bushes, which, at times, they 

 completely strip of their leaves.) The insects (see Fig. 

 374) are clay-yellow, with three large, black marks on 

 the back of the thorax, one on the breast, and others on 

 the sides. The legs are pale, except dark tips to the 

 last pair; the antennas are dark. The wings are hyaline, 

 with a black stigma. The body is iin. or -^in. long. 

 The insects vary in the amount of black upon them, 

 occasionally having even the abdomen almost black. 

 The eggs are laid on the veins of the lower surface of 

 the leaf, in which the young larvae eat little holes at 

 first ; but, after a time, they devour the whole leaf, ex- 

 cept the chief veins. The larvae, till their last moult, 

 are mostly green, studded with numerous black, shining 



FIG. 375. LARVA OK GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT SAWFLY 

 (A'ematus Itibenii). 



tubercles, bearing hairs (see Fig. 375). The first and 

 second, and the eleventh to thirteenth, segments are 

 orange. The true legs are mostly black, and the claspers 

 are pale green. In the last moult, the tubercles are thrown 

 off, and the larvae become uniform bluish - green, with 

 an orange spot behind the head, and another on the 

 tail. When full-fed, the larvae drop to the ground, and 

 an inch or two below the surface spin brown cocoons. 

 Inside these may be found the pupae, green or yellowish - 

 green, with orange markings on the thorax and tip of 

 the abdomen. There are usually two generations in the 

 year. 



Nematus appendiculatus is less often markedly in- 

 jurious to Gooseberry and Currant-bushes; for, though 

 widely diffused throughout Britain, it is not very 

 common. This Sawfly is readily distinguished from 

 N. Ribesii by its black abdomen, as well as by its more 

 truncate front wings, rather smaller size, and other minor 

 peculiarities. The larva is green, with a yellowish tint 

 on the second and eleventh and anal segments, and on 

 the posterior legs. The larvae go below ground to 

 pupate. 



Nematus consobrinus also feeds, in the larval state, 

 on the leaves of Gooseberries, and is not rare in Britain! 

 It much resembles N. Ribesii, but is slightly smaller 

 and duller-coloured, though it varies a good deal in 

 the latter respect. The larva is green, beset with black 

 tubercles, each bearing a hair; the second segment, the 

 sides over the legs, and part of the last segment, 

 are yellow. At the last moult, the body becomes uniform 

 bright green, except that behind the head and on the 



Kibes continued. 



last segment yellow is visible. There is only one genera- 

 tion annually in Britain. 



Remedies are specified under the heading already 

 quoted, and need not be repeated here. They are applic- 

 able to all three species of Sawflies, and are, indeed, 

 useful against all the insects that feed exposed on the 

 leaves. 



Several species of Greenflies, or Aphides (which see), 

 live on the lower surface of the leaves of Gooseberries 

 and Currants, and frequently distort the young leaves at 

 the tips of the branches, causing these, on the Currants 

 especially, to become swollen and reddened. Besides 

 the injury thus done to the plants, the fruit suffers 

 from being covered with the sticky excretions of the 

 insects, and with the dust and soot that adhere to 

 these, and the Fungi that find suitable food in them. 

 In Buckton's " British Aphides," the following are re- 



FIG. 376. APHIS (MYZUS) RIBIS. 



The figure on the leaf shows the Wingless Female rather larger 

 than natural size ; the lower figure shows the Winged l<'eiu;ile 

 much enlarged. 



corded as especially injurious, viz., Myzus Ribis (foe 

 Fig. 376) with cylindrical honey-tubes, and Ehopalo- 

 siphum Ribis with the honey-tubes widened in the 

 middle. Both species are green, with dark markings. 

 For remedies against these insects, see Aphides. The 

 tips of the twigs bearing distorted leaves should be cut 

 off and destroyed by fire, if practicable. Syringing the 

 bushes with water afterwards is beneficial, by cleaning 

 the leaves and fruits. 



On the Continent of Europe, of late years, a good 

 deal of injury has been done by a Gall-midge, the 

 larvae of which feed in the flower buds, and destroy 

 them. The insects have not yet been reared. This foe 

 has not been recorded in Britain. 



The fruits are sometimes injured by the larvae of Hal-in 

 Wavaria (see above); but the worst foes to them are 

 birds, e.g., blackbirds and thrushes. The loss from this 

 cause is easily prevented by netting bushes of any choice 

 varieties ; but probably the plants benefit as much as 

 they lose when left unnetted, inasmuch as it has been 

 observed that bushes under nets are more liable than 

 others to be injured by insects. It must be remembered, 

 also, that the birds most apt to carry off the fruits of 

 Gooseberries and Currants well repay such plundering 

 by their services in destroying noxious insects, snails, 

 and other marauders during the year, besides the plea- 

 sure derived from their song. 



R. alpinum (alpine). Tasteless Mountain Currant. /. yellowish ; 

 racemes erect, glandular-pubescent ; males 2in. to 2iin. long, 

 twenty to thirty -flowered; females shorter, eight to ten-flowered. 



jfr. scarlet, iin. in diameter, in>ipid. 1. lin to 2in. in diameter, 

 broadly ovate, three to flve-lobed ; lobes usually three, acute, cut, 

 and serrate, hairy, h. 3ft. Europe (Britain), &c. Unarmed 

 shrub. (Sy. En. B. 519.) 



R. a. japonicum (Japanese), fl. greenish, small, glomerulate 

 fr. cherry-red. I. persistent, three-lobed, denticulate-crenate, 

 strongly nerved. Branches divaricate, h. 3ft Japan, 1877. 



R. a. aureum (golden-leaved). A very dwarf, garden strain, with 

 yellow flowers, well adapted for rockeries, &c. 1881. 



