342 



Bush-Fruits 



are passed in stems which have been killed by this disease, but the 

 place of egg-laying is in doubt. 



Remedies. Cutting out and burning infested stalks will prove 

 effective. 

 References. 



Fitch, N.Y. Rep. 3:416. 



Cook, Rep. Mich. Hort. Soc. 1890: 106. 



Geneva, N. Y., Expt. Sta. Tech. Bull. 18. 



THE IMPORTED CURRANT WORM 



Pteronus ribesii, Scopoli 



This most familiar inhabitant of the currant and gooseberry 

 bushes is a four-winged saw-fly, about the size of the common house 

 fly. It first appeared in the United States in the vicinity of Roches- 

 ter, N. Y., about 1857, 

 being mentioned in "The 

 Rural New-Yorker" of 

 July 24, 1858, p. 239. 

 The male is black, with 

 some yellow spots, glossy 

 wings and yellow legs. 

 The female is larger than 

 the male, bright honey 

 yellow, with a black head. 

 It is not in this dress, 

 however, that we best 

 know the insect. Its eggs 

 are deposited in rows on 

 the under side of the leaves, along the principal veins (Fig. 49), in 

 early spring. Dr. Lintner observed a female deposit thirty eggs on 

 a single currant leaf within one hour. These hatch in a few days, 

 and open the season's campaign by eating small holes in the leaf. 

 The eggs are laid in rows, and the young larvae at first feed in com- 

 panies (Fig. 50), but later, as size and appetite increase, they scatter 

 to all parts of the bush. 



The insect is fastidious in its dress during the larval stage. It first 

 appears in a modest garb of dull white, which it soon exchanges for 



Fig. 49. Eggs of the imported currant worm. 



