THE GOOSEBERRY GRUB. 
121 
whole trees entirely stripped of their leaves, 
when they ought to be busily engaged in 
elaborating sap for the nourishment of the 
fruit, and the healthful extension of the plant. 
Under such circumstances the trees become 
all but dead, the shoots of the current year 
being so withered up, shrunk, and lithesome, 
as to admit of being tied together in knots 
without breaking, and the fruit becoming 
shrivelled and abortive. 
An excellent description of this " pest of 
the garden " occurs in a very praiseworthy 
series of letters on the Natural History of 
Godalming,* which, as it forms a good illus- 
tration of the useful and entertaining matter 
of this volume, we shall here quote, adding 
a few remarks of our own : — 
" Now the history of the pest is on this 
wise. Unconnected with its object, that of 
giving birth to one of the greatest nuisances 
that ever afflicted a fruit garden, the parent 
fly is a pleasing and good-looking insect, 
and is rather a favourite with gardeners, 
who think it the harmless harbinger of the 
cloudless skies which accompany its visit. I 
have often watched these flies glancing in 
the sunshine, chasing each other over the 
leaves, spreading out their gauzy and glossy 
wings, the hind wings projecting from be- 
neath the fore wings, like those of the lappet- 
moth, and enjoying, to the top of their bent, 
the genial influence of that delicious mock 
summer which we always have before the 
chill eastern blasts which usher in the 
real one, and which are supposed to bring the 
grub into existence. I will describe the fly : 
the wings are four, perfectly transparent, and 
in bright sunshine reflect the tints of the 
rainbow; the head and antenna? are black; the 
thorax is yellow, with a large black spot 
above and below, the upper spot is generally 
divided into three ; the body is of a clear, 
delicate, unspotted yellow; the legs are yellow 
and the feet black. 
" The life of the fly is but another example 
of implicit obedience to Nature's universal 
law, the heaven-descended command, i In- 
crease and multiply.' 
" Very shortly after the due celebration of 
the nuptials, the female repairs to the under- 
side of a leaf, and, standing directly over its 
midrib, her back downwards, her wings closely 
folded, and her antennae stretched straight 
out and continually shivering, she bends her 
saw under her so as to give her body a curve, 
and deposits her first egg on the rib itself ; 
* The Letters of Eusticus on the Natural History 
of Godalming. Reprinted. London : J. Van Voorst. 
This volume is well adapted to inspire an affection 
for the Naturalist's studies, at which we find the 
supercilious sneer too often pointed. Tt is popular, 
with the accuracy without the pedantry of science. 
then a second, a third, and so on to the tip of the 
leaf, or as near the tip as she can find conve- 
nient standing room. She then goes to one 
of the side ribs, then to another, and so on, 
till all the principal ribs are garrisoned with 
her eggs ranged in the prettiest rows ; the 
eggs are very long, and are placed lengthwise, 
end to end, like oblong beads on a string, yet 
not touching, for there is generally a space of 
about half an egg's length between each two. 
The eggs are very soft, and of a half-trans- 
parent white colour. After the first day the 
eggs begin to grow, and before the end of a 
week they have grown to three times their 
original size ; the head of the egg is always 
towards the tip of the leaf, and is remarkable 
for having two black eyes, placed very far 
apart, and quite on the side ; indeed so far 
asunder are these eyes, that, like the behind 
buttons on the coat of a certain illustrious 
coachman immortalized by Dickens, it is diffi- 
cult to bring both into the same field of view. 
" It is seldom more than a week before the 
grub makes his exit from the egg and his 
entrance into active life, but the period is not 
a constant one, varying from four to twelve 
days ; he comes out head foremost — his head, 
by the way, like that of most young animals, 
being of unseemly size : his body is nearly 
transparent, but just tinged with smoke 
colour, the eyes so conspicuous in the egg 
still being very observable, but as the head 
becomes darker, these gradually disappear. 
The grub is ready to begin eating directly, so 
crawling down from the rib he commences op- 
erations on the fleshy parts of the leaf, in which 
he gnaws a little round whole. Immediately 
after making his first meal, the green of the 
leaf communicates its colour to his body, and 
he is forthwith a green instead of a smoke- 
coloured grub, but still so transparent that 
the particles he has eaten show through his 
skin as a green line down the middle of his 
body, and it is this green hue which tinges all 
the other parts. The little grubs descend 
from the rib in equal numbers, right and left, 
leaving the skins of the eggs attached to the 
rib, and looking like a row of empty silver 
purses. The depredations are now visible 
above, from the sudden appearance of small 
round holes ranged in irregular rows ; in 
each of these holes one of the tiny gluttons 
may be seen clasping the eaten part of the 
leaf between his legs, and elevating the end 
of his body in the air. At this period the 
progress of the plague may be arrested. [The 
punctured leaves are recommended to be 
pinched off.] If you have not time to look 
for these leaves yourself, get some children to 
do it; they will soon take an interest in the oc- 
cupation, particularly if backed by a few cop- 
pers. I would also recommend young ladies 
