TYPICAL LESSON PLANS 129 



affected berries should be burned to prevent the spread of 

 the disease. By spraying, this disease may be almost 

 wholly prevented. Another enemy of the plants is the 

 gooseberry or currant worm. 



CURRANT OR GOOSEBERRY WORM.— Fourth Grade 



General Problem. — What are the characteristics that 

 help to make the gooseberry worm a pest ? 



After the leaves are well open, have the children look 

 at their gooseberry or currant bushes for flies that keep 

 hovering around the plants. Catch a few of these, put 

 them into a tumbler, and examine carefully. Are they 

 real flies? At first sight they look as if they might be 

 common house flies. How many wings has each one? 

 How many wings has a house fly ? True flies never have 

 but one pair of wings. These insects are sawflies. They 

 are relatives of bees and wasps. 



What are they doing as they fly in and out among the 

 bushes ? Look on the under side of the leaves till you find 

 one that has rows of white eggs on it. These are the eggs 

 of the sawfly. How many on one leaf? On some of the 

 leaves you will find tiny worms that have hatched from the 

 eggs. What are the worms doing ? What kind of mouths 

 must they have to nibble the leaves in this fashion ? They 

 have strong toothed jaws. Place a few of the worms on 

 some twigs. Keep the twigs fresh in a bottle of water. 

 Fresh leaves should be put in every evening. Watch them 

 feed and grow. These worms, as a rule, do not thrive 

 well for any length of time in confinement, so new ones may 

 be brought in from the bushes from day to day or the vari- 



