FRUIT ENEMIES. 279 



got rid of the mite by occasionally spraying the foliage 

 with a solution of fir-tree oil. 



Currant Clearwing Moth (/Egeria tipuliformis). The 

 larvae of this moth bore into the shoots of Currants, feed 

 on the pith, and cause the growths to shrivel and die. 

 The female moth lays one egg on each shoot in June. 

 The larva, which has a creamy-white body and a brown 

 head, appears in about ten days, and immediately bores 

 into one of the young lateral growths, and thence into 

 the pith of the main shoot. It remains in the shoot till 

 April, then enters the pupal state, and appears as a moth 

 in June. Its presence in shoots is indicated by the shrivel- 

 ling of the foliage and the withering of the former. Slit 

 the shoot open, and the culprit will be found in the pith. 

 The only remedy is to cut off and burn any withering 

 or dead shoots. (Fig. 129.) 



Currant Shoot Borer (Incurvaria cupitella). The parent 

 of this pest is a small moth, the female of which lays 

 her eggs in the young fruit late in May or early in June. 

 The larvae feed on the seeds for a short time, then quit 

 the fruits, spin a cocoon over themselves, and hibernate 

 in crevices of the bark till spring, when they again come 

 forth, and at once bore into the buds and young shoots, 

 causing them to flag. In their earlier stages the larvae 

 are bright red, but later they become greenish- white. 

 Pupation takes place early in May, and the moths appear 

 in June. Picking off the drooping shoots and burning 

 them, also spraying the bushes in winter with a caustic 

 wash, are the only remedies. 



Currant Aphis (Rhopalosiphon ribis). A species of 

 plant lice which infests the under-surfaces of the leaves 

 of Currants, causing them to turn brown and shrivel. 

 Very often leaves so infested have reddish blisters on their 

 upper sides ; these, however, are declared by Professor 

 Theobald not to be due to aphis infestation. Wingless, 

 viviparous females produce their young alive from April 



