79 



Fig. 34 shows the perfect 

 insect, a being the male and b 

 the female, the lines repre- 

 senting the size with wings 

 expanded. The eggs hatch in 

 from six to ten days, and the 

 worm immediately commences 

 feeding upon the leaves. The 

 caterpillars increase in size rap- 

 idly until they are three fourths 

 of an inch long. When full 

 grown they pass down into the 

 ground and spin brownish co- 

 coons, and assume the pupa 

 state. They again leave the 



Fig. 34. 



ground in about two weeks in the form of perfect insects, and 

 lay a second crop of eggs from which a second brood is hatched, 

 which pass the pupa state in the ground, where they remain till 

 the following spring. It is said that the fly lives about nine 

 days. The worms 

 when first hatched are 

 of a pale color, soon, 

 however, becoming 

 green, with a black 

 head and shining black 

 spots on each side of 

 the body. Fig 35 rep- 

 resents the worm in 

 different stages of de- 

 velopment feeding 

 upon the leaves of the 

 gooseberry, and b rep- 

 resents the spots on a 

 magnified joint of the 

 body. The worm is not often discovered until its work of de- 

 struction attracts attention, and its work is so rapid that a plant 

 may be entirely divested of foliage in forty-eight hours. The 

 importance of a daily examination of currant and gooseberry 

 bushes, at the season when the worm is likely to appear, is quite 

 apparent. 



Fig. 35. 



