44 CURRANT, 



The best account that I know of for practical purposes is given 

 by Prof. W. Saunders in his most serviceable volume on American 

 fruit attacks.* In this he states that "the female lays her eggs singly 

 near the buds, where in a few days they hatch into small larvfe, which 

 eat their way to the centre of the stem, where they burrow up and 

 down, feeding on the pith all through the summer, enlarging the 

 channel as they grow older, until at last they have formed a hollow 

 several inches in length." . . . " Before changing to a chrysalis, a 

 passage is eaten nearly through the stem, leaving merely the thin 

 outer skin unbroken, thus preparing the way for the escape of the 

 moth. Within this cavity the larva changes to a chrysalis." . . . 

 " Early in June the chrysalis wriggles itself forward, and, pushing 

 against the thin skin covering its place of retreat, ruptures it, and 

 then partly thrusts itself out of the opening, when in a short time the 

 moth bursts its prison-house and escapes, soon depositing eggs, from 

 which larvfe are hatched which carry on the work of destruction." — 

 (W.S.) 



The above extract gives the life-history as shortly and plainly as it 

 can be put,f and my own observations from the specimens sent me 

 agreed well with it. 



On the 9th of January my correspondents, writing from the south 

 of Scotland, mentioned : — "When some of our men last week were 

 taking cuttings of Black Currants, they found many of the stems 

 completely eaten out by a certain larva, a specimen of which we 

 enclose." The writers further mentioned that, as they were un- 

 acquainted with the pest, they much desired information on this head, 

 and means of prevention and remedy. With this letter, specimens of 

 caterpillars and injured shoots were sent showing the attack to be of 

 the Sesia tvpuliformis, variously known as the Currant Clearwing, 

 Currant Hawk Moth, or Currant Borer, and a few days later a large 

 supply of infested shoots were sent for examination. 



On slitting these longitudinally, I found the pith or centre eaten 

 away for as much as five or over five and a quarter inches in length, 

 from where it had been cut across, this consequently only giving a 

 portion of the length of the larval burrow. As in some cases the 



* See 'Insects Injurious to Fruits,' i^p. 336, 337, by W. Saunders, F.R.S.C.,&c. 

 PhiladeliDhia, U. S. A. ; and 16, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C. 



t The only point of difference between the habits of the larvffi in the description 

 above given and those recorded in Europe, is continuance of feeding. Taschenberg, 

 in his 'Praktische Insektenkunde,' notes the larva as feeding from "July or August 

 until March of the following year." This probably depends much on difference of 

 weather and climate, and I could not have said with any certainty that, though 

 some of my larvae were partially webbed round, they had ceased feeding, more 

 especially as they were not all full-grown; 



