CURRANT CLEARWING MOTH. 



43 



the possibility of Wireworms being wholly immersed in paraffin for 

 many hours without being either poisoned by the internal action, or 

 stifled by their air-pores being closed during the period, and thus 

 pointing to the success of parafSn applications in field work being 

 merely as deterrents to Wireworm presence. 



CURRANT. 



Currant Clearwing Moth. Sesia tipuUformis;^' Linn. 



Sesia TiPULiFORMis ; chrysalis, nat. size and magnified ; and section of portion of 



tunnelled shoot. 



One of the earliest enquiries regarding insect attacks which was 

 sent me during the past year, was forwarded on the 9th of January 

 from a large nursery gardening firm f in the south of Scotland, 

 relatively to what turned out to be a bad attack of caterpillars of the 

 Currant Clearwing Moth, in the pith of shoots of the Black Currant, 

 an infestation which is ruinous to the shoots above the point of attack, 

 as the caterpillars clear out the centre of the shoot completely for 

 many inches. 



This Currant borer has long been known as a trouble to fruit- 

 growers, both in this country and on the Continent of Europe, and is 

 amongst the injurious insects which have been carried to America, but 

 I have rarely had it reported as seriously destructive. 



* Synonyms — J^gcria tipuUformis, also TrochiUum tipuUforme. 



t My correspondents were proceeding to have all the lot of infested bushes, 

 which they had received from one gardener, cleared out and got rid of, but never- 

 theless, for obvious reasons, I do not give their names. — Ed. 



