THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



13 



with those that infest the Sweet Potato. We 

 liiive commenced a series of articles, throwing 

 li^'ht upon tlic mnltifarious species that destroy 

 the liealth and vigor of the Grape-vine. In the 

 present Paper we propose to give the Natural 

 History of three pei-fectly clistiuct kinds of 

 worms, or larva; as they would be more pro- 

 perly termed, that devour the foliage of the 

 Currant and the Gooseberry. There are other 

 larva^ that bore into the stems or twigs of one 

 or both of these plants, and should ratlicr be 

 called "Borers'" than "Worms;" but with 

 these we have at present nothing to do. In a 

 future Paper we shall perhaps treat of these Last 

 by themselves. 



The Currant and the Gooseberry, althougli 

 tiie general appearance of the two plants is very 

 ditlereut, and although almost all the species of 

 (loosebcrry arc thorny and bear each fruit upon 

 a separate stem, while all the species of Currant 

 are devoid of thorns and bear their fruit in a 

 peculiar kind of bunch technically known as a 

 " raceme," are yet referred by Botanists to the 

 same genus (Rihes). Our common (4arden 

 Gooseberry (lii'bes i/rossiihiria) has been intro- 

 duced among us from Europe; but we have 

 four wild species commonly found in the Xorth- 

 crn States ; and besides these four there is a Cal- 

 ifornian species, the Showy (Tooseberry (7?. speci- 

 osum), which is sometimes cultivated as an orna- 

 mental plant in our gardens, for the sake of its fine 

 deep-red hanging flowers and red stamens. On 

 the contrary, our common Garden IJed Currant 

 {R. ruhrutn). of which the AVhite Currant is a 

 mere variety, is indigenous in the more north- 

 erly of the Northern States fi-om New Hamp- 

 shire to Wisconsin, although it is also a native 

 of Europe; while on the other hand the Black 

 Currant of our gardens {Ji. nu/rum) is a Euro- 

 pean plant, and is thought by the best authors 

 to be distinct from our American Wild Black 

 Currant (B. floridum). Besides the above we 

 have three other Currants peculiar to America. 

 One of these, the Missouri or Buffalo Currant 

 {R.aureum), gvows wild in the Far West and 

 is often cultivated in gardens, where its small, 

 bright-yellow, spicy-scented flowers are very 

 conspicuous in the early spring. Another of 

 them, peculiar to Oregon and California, the 

 Red-flowered Currant {R. srmfjuineum), is also 

 occasionally grown as an ornamental plant on 

 this side of the Rocky Mountains. 



We have entered into these botanical details, 

 because it is a remarkable fact that the three 

 diflerent Currant and Gooseberry Worms, now 

 to be brought under our notice, all of them attack 

 almost indiscriminately in our gardens the Red 



Currant and the Gooseberry, while they arc 

 none of them ever found upon our cultivated 

 Black Currant or, so far as is known, upon our 

 wild Black Curiaiit. On the other hand our 

 common inipoited Curiant Borer {'^■JSyerin 

 tipuh'formis) infests the Red or White Currant, 

 but is never found in the twigs of the cultivated 

 Black Currant or in those of the Gooseberry, 

 whether wild or tame : while our wild Black 

 Currant has a peculiar borer of its own {^^geria 

 caudaia), belonging to the very same genus as 

 the imported species which attacks the Red 

 Currant; and we ourselves recently noticed, in 

 the grounds of Mr. D. F. Kinney at Rock Island, 

 111., that the tips of the rank vigorously grow- 

 ing twigs of the tame Black Currant were ex- 

 tensively bored on the last of June by that very 

 general feeder the Stalk Worm ( Gortyna 

 vi/ela).* Finally, the common Currant Plant- 

 louse (Aphis ribis) — a species introduced among 

 us from Europe — may be noticed almost every 

 spring in every patch of Red Currants, curling 

 up the leaves in great numbers into blister-like 

 elevations, on the inferior surface of which it 

 resides; while neither this particular species of 

 I'lanl-lousc, nor any oilier species so far as we 

 are aware, is ever met with either upon the 

 (loosoberry, whether wild or tame, or upon the 

 Black Currant, whether wild or tame. These 

 facts may serve to show us how unsafe it is to 

 infer that, because one insect can thrive upon a 

 number of diflerent species of a particular genus 

 of jilants. therefore another insect can do the 



The Gooseberry Span-worm. 



(K/lojtia [Abraxas} rihearia, Fitch.) 

 This may be at once distinguished from any 

 other worm, found either on Gooseberry or Cur- 

 rant, by its being what is popularly called a 

 •■ iniasurinu-worm" or span-worm. The an- 

 luxrd -kc(rli (Fig. 5) shews this larva in three 

 iliilrrciii ]iii>iti(>ns,No.lrepresentingit in profile 

 in the looping attitude, and No. 2 giving a dor- 

 sal view of it as it hangs suspended by a thread. 

 When full-grown it measures about an inch, 

 and is of a bright yellow color, with lateral 

 white lines and numerous black spots and round 

 dots. The head is white, with two large black 

 eye-like spots on the outer sides above and two 

 smaller ones beneath. The six true legs arc 

 black and the four pro-legs yellow. It attains 

 its growth about the middle of June, when it 

 descends to the ground and either burrows a 



• Figurcil ^ 



