THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



13 



with tliose that infest the Sweet Potato. We 

 have coinmonced a series of articles, throwing 

 light upon the multifarious species that destroy 

 the health and vigor of the (irape-vine. In the 

 present Paper we propose to give the Natural 

 History of three pei'fectly distinct kinds of 

 worms, or larv;e as they would he more pro- 

 perly termed, that devour the foliage of the 

 Currant and the Gooseberry. There are other 

 larvae that bore into the stems or twigs of one 

 or both of these plants, and should rather be 

 called "Borers" than "Worms;" but with 

 these we liave at present nothing to do. In a 

 future Paper we shall pei'haps treat of these last 

 by themselves. 



The Currant and the Gooseberry, although 

 the general appearance of (he two plants is very 

 different, and although almost all the species of 

 Gooseberry are 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 refei-red by Botanisfs to (he 

 same genus (liihcs). Our common (iardcn 

 Gooseberry (JUhc.i i/rossuhirid) has been iii(ro- 

 duced among us from Europe; but we have 

 four wild species commonly found in the North- 

 ern S(a(cs; and besides these four there is a Cal- 

 iforntan species, the Showy <iooseberry(7?. .yicri- 

 osum), which is sometimes cultivated as an orna- 

 mental plant in our gardens, tor the sake of its (ine 

 deep-red hanging tlowersand red stamens. On 

 the contrary, our common (iarden Red (Uirrant 

 (H. rubrum), of which the White Currant is a 

 mere variety, is indigenous in the more north- 

 erly of the Northern States from New Hamp- 

 shire to Wisconsin, although it is also a native 

 of Europe; while on the other hand the Black 

 Currant of our gardens {II. niiiriim) is a Euro- 

 pean plant, and is tlionght by the best authors 

 to be distinct from our American Wild Black 

 Currant {11. Jloridmn). Besides the above we 

 have three otlu-r Currants peculiar to America. 

 Cue of these, the Missouri or Piuffalo Currant 

 (K. rtKrcMw), grows wild in the Far West and 

 is often cultivated in gardens, where its small, 

 bright-yellow, spicy-scented Howers are very 

 conspicuous in the early spring. Another of 

 them, peculiar to Oregon and t'alil'ornia, the 

 Red-flowered Currant {li. saiuiuineum), 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 tiict that the three 

 diti'ercnt Currant and Gooseberry Worms, now 

 to be brought under our notice, all of them attack 

 almost indiscriminately in our gardens the Red 



('urrant and the (Gooseberry, while they are 

 none of (hem ever (bund upon our cultivated 

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

 wild Black Currant. On the other hand our 

 common imported Currant Borer {^iJt/erin 

 tijiiilijhrmis) infests the Red or White Currant, 

 but is never found in the twigs of the cultivated 

 Black Currant or in those of the Gooseberry, 

 whedier wild or (ame: while our wild Black 

 Currant has a jieculiar borer of its own {^Ef/eria 

 raiuln/a), belonging to (he very same genus as 

 (he imported species which attacks (he Red 

 Currant; and we ourselves recently noticed, in 

 (he grounds of ifr. D. F. Kinney atRock Island, 

 111., that the tii)S of the rank vigorously grow- 

 ing twigs of (he tame Black (Currant were ex- 

 tensively bored on (he last of June by that very 

 general feeder the Stalk Worm ( Gortyna 

 iiiicia).* Finally, the common Currant Plant- 

 louse {Aphis rihis)—a species introduced among 

 us from Euroiic — may be noticed almost every 

 spring in every patch of ]?ed Currants, curling 

 Mji (he le.'ives in gieat numbers into blis(er-like 

 elevations, on (he ififerior surface of which it 

 resides; whi'le neithei' this i)articular species of 

 Plant-louse, nor any other species so far as we 

 arc aware, is ever met with either upon the 

 Gooseberry, whether wild or tame, or upon the 

 lUack (Jurrant, 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 ditl'erent species of a particular genus 

 of plants, therefore auother insect can do the 

 same thing. 



The Gooseberry Hiiau-wonii. ^^''^ 



{Ellopi-h {Ah,;i.nt»] iHcaria, Fiteli.) 



This may be at once distinguished from any 

 other worm, found either on (iooseberry or Cur- 

 rant, by its being what is pojjularly called a 

 "measuring-worm" or span-worm. The an- 

 nexed sketch (Fig. 5) shews this larva in three 

 ditl'erent positions. No. 1 representing it in protile 

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

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

 AV'hcn 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 are 

 l)lack and the fmir pro-legs yellow. It .attains 

 its growth about the middle of June, when it 

 descends to the ground and either burrows a 



' Fij^ured with its \\ir\A in A.mkic Entom. I 



• i'i, flsc. 



