334 LEPIDOPTERA. 



operation should be performed in the spring, or during the 

 month of June. In the winter the strings may be removed, 

 and in the following spring the trees should again be exam- 

 ined for any borers that may have escaped search before, 

 and the protecting applications should be renewed. 



In Europe there is a species of ^Egeria, named by Lin- 

 naeus tipuliformis, which has long been known to inhabit 

 the stems of the currant-bush. This, or an insect closely 

 resembling it, is far too common in America, in the culti- 

 vated currant, with which it may have been introduced from 

 Europe. The caterpillars are produced from eggs laid sin- 

 gly, near the buds ; when hatched, they penetrate the stem 

 to the pith, which they devour, and thus form a burrow 

 of several inches in length in the interior of the stem. 

 As the borer increases in size, it enlarges the hole com- 

 municating with its burrow, to admit of the more ready 

 passage of its castings, and to afford it the means of escape 

 when it is transformed to a moth. The inferior size of 

 the fruit affords an indication of the operations of the 

 borers ; and the perforated stems frequently break off at 

 the part affected, or, if of sufficient size still to siuyport the 

 weight of the foliage and fruit, they soon become sickly, 

 and finally die. 



In some gardens, nearly every currant-bush has been 

 attacked by these borers ; and instances are known to me 

 wherein all attempts to raise currant-bushes from cuttings 

 have been baffled, during the second or third year of the 

 growth of the plants, by the ravages of these insects. They 

 complete their transformations, and appear in the moth state, 

 about the middle of June. 



The moth is of a blue-black color ; its wings are trans- 

 parent, but veined and fringed with black, and across the 

 tips of the anterior pair there is a broad band, which is 

 more or less tinged with copper-color ; the under side of 

 the feelers, the collar, the edges of. the shoulder-covers, 

 and three very narrow rings on the abdomen, are golden 



