INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY 481 



June and hatch in about eleven days. The young larvae bore 

 into the pith, but the tunnel rarely extends over six inches below 

 the point girdled. The full-grown larva is hardly one-half inch 

 long, of a glistening straw-yellow color, with darker head. The 

 thoracic segments are wider than the others and bear rudimentary 

 feet, and from the tip of the stout, cylindrical abdomen projects 

 a horny, brown bifid spine. In the fall the borer cleans out its 

 burrow at the lower end and eats a hole through the woody wall 

 of the stem to the outer bark, which sinks in at this point. The 

 grub then spins a thin silken cocoon about itself, in which it 

 hibernates over winter, transforming to a whitish pupa in April, 

 from which the adult emerges early in May. The girdling of 

 the stalks is the principal injury, and those which harbor the pest 

 may be recognized, even in winter, by the characteristic dead 

 stubs, cut off squarely at the upper end. 



Control. The drooping of the tips in May is soon noticed 

 and during June they should be cut off about three inches lower 

 down and burned, or if the pruning is left until winter the infested 

 stubs should be cut off about eight inches below the point girdled, 

 as the larvae rarely tunnel deeper. 



The Four-lined Leaf -bug * 



This is one of our most common leaf-bugs, which has a long 

 list of food plants, but is particularly injurious to the young 

 foliage of currant and gooseberry. The adult bug is easily 

 recognized, as the upper surface is a dark green with four stripes 

 and the tips of the wing-covers black, as shown in Fig. 346. The 

 green changes to yellow after death and the body is bright orange- 

 yellow, and the legs green. The " presence of the pest is indicated 

 by the appearance of the peculiar brown depressed spots on the 

 tender terminal leaves " in early summer. " As the attack con- 

 tinues, whole leaves turn brown, curl up, become brittle, and are 

 torn or broken by the wind. The young shoot is checked and 

 frequently droops and dies. The buds of dahlias and roses are 



* Poecilocapsus lineatus Fab. Family Capsidoe. See Slingerland, Bul- 

 etin 58, Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Sta. 



