THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



15 



The Imported Curraut-wonn. 



{Nemalus I'entrieoms, Klug.)* 

 It is only about a dozen years since this most 

 pernicious enemy to the Currant and Goose- 

 berry was introduced from Europe into tlie 

 United States. So far as can be ascertained, it 

 made its lirst appearance among us in the neigh- 

 borhood of Rochester, N. Y., and is supposed 

 to liave been imported along with some goose- 

 berry bushes from Europe by the celebrated 

 Rochester nurserymen, Messrs. Ellwanger & 

 Barry. In nine years time, besides colonizing 

 in otiier directions, it had gradually spread to 

 "Washington Co., N. Y., on the east side of the 

 Hudson River — a total distance of about 225 

 miles. Thus, as it appears, it traveled at the 

 average rate of some 25 miles a year, establish- 

 ing a permanent colony wherever it went, and 

 not. passing throiigh the country as a mere 



•hi tliL- l-iiACTiiAi, Ent..moL(.c.ist for S.^j.^miIrt, 1SG6, 



the Sniii.r IMil^.l piil.li^l,, ,1 IIm. ;i,-t r,irn| 1, h lii--t,,yv , if this 



Insect, :i- ■• ■ " ■ I '■'■' ■' -' ■'■ ^ ' v-ri-iidix 



that All I 

 year )>l',i . 



scribed tin- m:iW iml. r Ih 

 female uuder the >|m niii n, 

 factiu'ing twosiMcir. ..m .. 

 Paper from the lull ni ilh - 

 Dr. Fitch gave tuihr \\~,vV 

 TramacHom of the Ncu- y< 

 1867, pp. 909-932 In tin 

 remarks (p. 910) that the -a 

 another author under The n 

 St. Fargean's name fur ii 

 geau's two n;imf.s wlii.-li :i 



matter; l'(.>i';dth"n-li l>r. t 

 selfmni..-^iiiiii-..M.-,~i;d.li 

 ■with the ri-id L;n\ ..irri.n 

 bystilLildrr.,!!,-, ^^l,l,■l, 



Hilling 



among 

 as Ion- 

 ofthei 

 femaU 

 verse 



In th, 

 alread\ 

 that •■" 

 that th. 



tion 



Ofe 



hci I 



ject I 



But I 



ers as th ib m 111 



own lutubiations t tU « _ 



liohcd m tlic same si ec il dei iitintnt of Natural History? 



moveable column of invaders. In 1860 or '61 

 it appeared at Erie in the N. W. corner of Penn- 

 sylvania. In 1864 Prof. Wiuchell found it at 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 18G6 it was generally 

 distributed over the N. E. counties of Pcuusyl- 

 vania. And judging from a conversation which 

 we had in October, 18G8, with Mark Carley, of 

 Champaign, in Central Illinois, this gentleman 

 must have had it in great numbers upon his 

 currant bushes in the summer of that year. At 

 all events he described the worm which had 

 infested his bushes as being green with many 

 black spots and as not being a looper. 



But besides (he principal centre of distribu- 

 tion at Rochester, N. Y., this Currant-worm 

 seems to have been imported from Europe at 

 one or two other points in the Eastern States, and 

 as at Rochester to have spread therefrom as from 

 a focus. Unless our memory greatly deceives 

 us, Mr. Geo. Brackett, of Maine, described this 

 same insect many years ago, as existing in that 

 State, though he gave it a different specific name, 

 and was not at all aware that it had been intro- 

 duced from the other side of the Atlantic. AVe 

 also heard of it in the summer of 1867, from Mr. 

 A. n. Mills, of Vermont, as being very destruc- 

 tive in his neighborhood. Not improbably, it 

 was independently imported at other points in 

 the East. Wherever it is introduced it spreads 

 with great rapidity, and as there are two broods 

 every year, it soon multiplies so as to strip all 

 the currant and gooseberry bushes bare and 

 utterly ruin the crop, besides eventually destroy- 

 ing the bushes, unless proper measures be taken 

 to counteract it. Throughout the western parts 

 of New York, as we have been informed by our 

 ornithological friend Dr. Velie, the cultivation 

 of currants and gooseberries has been almost 

 entirely given up, on account of the depreda- 

 tions of this seemingly insignificant little sav- 

 age. And, according to Dr. Fitch, at Water- 

 town, N. Y., " it kept the bushes so destitute 

 of leaves in most of the gardens, that in three 

 years they were nearly or quite dead." 



The Imported Currant-worm Fly (Fig. 7, a 

 male, b female, both enlarged), belongs to the 

 Sawflies {Tenthredo Family) — a group of the 

 Order of Clear-winged Flies {Hymenojitera), 

 which is remarkable for having most of its larvffi 

 with the same plant-feeding propensities as those 

 of the great bulk of the larvie of the Moths, and 

 with very much their general appearance. Saw- 

 fly larvse, however, may be readily distinguished 

 from moth larva;, in the majority of cases, by 

 having either 22, 20 or 18 legs ; whereas the 

 greatest number of legs that any moth larva has 

 is 16. The species that we now have to do with 



