490 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The Currant-fly * 



Currants and gooseberries sometimes turn red and drop pre- 

 maturely, due to the injury of small maggots which may be found 

 within them. The insect has been troublesome in Maine and is 

 sometimes a serious pest in Colorado. It is a native insect and is 

 probably generally distributed throughout the northern United 

 States and southern Canada. The adult fly is about the size of 

 a house-fly, a pale yellowish or yellowish-brown color, with dark 



FIG. 352.- The currant-fly (Epochra canadensis Loew.) much enlarged. 



(After Gillette.) 



bands across the wings, and a tapering abdomen, as shown in 

 Fig. 352. 



Life History. The flies appear in late spring and the females 

 deposit their eggs in the older berries. A female will lay about 

 200 eggs during the period of a month, placing but one in a berry, 

 so that a single fly may do considerable damage. The white egg 

 is about one-twenty-fifth inch long and laid just under the skin, 



* Epochra canadensis Loew. Family Trypetidce. See F. L. Harvey, 

 Bulletin 35, Maine Agr. Exp. Sta. 



