CHAPTER XV 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GROSELLES 



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THE groselles like other economic plants, are subject to 

 attack from insects of divers character, appearance, and 

 habits. The list immediately following comprises those 

 most likely to work serious injury. 



THE FOUR-LINED LEAF-BUG 



Pcecilocapsus lineatus, Fabr. 



This is a native insect which was first described by Fabricius 

 in 1798. It came into notice as injurious to dahlias, currants and 

 other plants soon after the middle of the present century, and has 

 never ceased its evil ways from that day to this. Its food plants 

 embrace esculent and ornamental plants and a few weeds. 



The insect appears about the middle of May in northern latitudes, 

 and takes up its abode on the tenderest leaves at the tip of the 

 twigs. It is then too small to be readily seen, but by means of its 

 proboscis, a perpetual self-acting pump, it immediately begins to 

 drain the leaf of its sap. At first its work is not conspicuous, but 

 soon becomes manifest by the appearance of small, dark spots, 

 which later turn brown and die, the soft part of the leaf within 

 having been sucked out. These spots, which at first are not larger 

 than the head of a pin, may become much larger and even run to- 

 gether, causing the death of the entire leaf. The shoot itself may be 

 checked in growth, or even killed. 



The work of this insect, contrasted with that of leaf-spot and 

 anthracnose fungi is shown at Plate XV, together with egg-clusters 

 on a currant stem. 



The nymphs, or immature forms of the insect, are at first very 



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