THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIUT. 



15 



Fig. 1. 



sight, and to devise means of lessening 

 their ravages. 



OUR NATIVE CURRANT BORER. 



is a very small beetle. Figure 1 shows 

 shows it of the natural size at the left 

 band, and at the right magnified in 

 order to present 

 its markings more 

 clearly. It may 

 be found on the 

 currant bushes 

 early in June, and, 

 being not very ac- 

 tive, can be cap- 

 tured, its small size being the greatest 

 obstacle, for by reason of its diminutive- 

 ness it escapes detection. From the 

 eggs laid by this beetle small, white, 

 footless grubs are hatched, having 

 brown head and black jaws. These 

 feed upon the pith of the stems, render- 

 ing them hollow, as many as half a 

 dozen of them being frequently found 

 in one cane. They remain within the 

 stalk, changing into the chrysalis state 

 without leaving it until, as little brown 

 beetles, they come out in the end of 

 May or beginning of June. 



THE IMPORTED CURRANT BORER, 



for it seems that somehow, as though 

 we had not pests enough of our own, 

 we must needs bring in some more from 

 foreign countries, belongs to quite a 

 different family of insects, as will be 

 seen at a glance at Figure 

 2. This little moth is of 

 a bluish black color, with 

 three narrow golden bands 

 across the abdomen. The 

 wings ai-e transparent, 

 veined and bordered with 

 black, having a coppery lustre. It 

 may be found among the currant 

 bushes about the middle of June, 

 laying its eggs singly near the buds, 

 from which the larva? are hatched in 

 a few days. These little worms eat 

 their way into the centre of the cane, 



Fig. 2. 



spend the summer feeding on the pith, 

 burrowing it out for several inches. 

 Its appearance when full grown is 

 shown in Figure 3 considerably magni- 



FiG. 3. 



fied. The head and legs are brown, 

 and there is a dark line along the 

 middle of the back. After it has at- 

 tained its full growth it eats a passage 

 through the woody part of the stem and 

 the inner bark, leaving only the thin 

 outer layer untouched. It then changes 

 into the chrysalis state — the chrysalis 

 is seen at a, Figure 3, magnified. In 

 this condition it remains until about 

 the beginning of June, when the chry- 

 salis, by wriggling itself forward, pushes 

 through the thin outer bark which was 

 left by the worm far enough to allow 

 the moth to break its chrysalis covering 

 and make its escape. 



This is the life history of these in- 

 sects, and it discloses but 



ONE VERY VULNERABLE POINT, 



and that is the fact that they pass the 

 whole of their larval and chrysalis ex- 

 istence within the stem of the currant 

 bush which they have injured, if not 

 totally ruined, by eating out the pith. 

 Inasmuch as it is well for the plant 

 that these hollow canes be removed, it 

 may be that by making thorough work 

 in cutting them away and burning them 

 while the insect is yet within that we 

 may so reduce their number after a 

 year or two as to make their depreda- 

 tions comparatively trifling. However, 

 this involves the abandoi^ment of the 

 single-stem system of pruning, and 

 forces us to train the plants with sevei'al 

 stems, which seems to us on the whole 



