QUERIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 251 
two currants are seen in various localities. Dr. Bromfield laboured 
to prove the gooseberry aboriginal in the Isle of Wight and else- 
where, but some of his reasonings on the matter seems to me to 
tell in the opposite direction. 
Ribes rubrum, L., the Eed Currant, is often to be seen in 
hedges, like the gooseberry ; but is, I believe, no more of an 
aboriginal species than it, its appearance being due to the common 
cultivation of it in our fruit-gardens. Ribes nigrum, L., the Black 
Currant, is also occasionally, though more rarely, met with, this 
perhaps by reason of its fruit being less relished by birds than that 
of the other. Minute differences have been stated to exist between 
the garden and the wild red currant bushes. "It is to be re- 
marked," says Dr. Bromfield, "that the flowers of the wild red 
currant are, in this island (Isle of Wight) at least, always more or 
less tinged with reddish-brown, whilst those of the cultivated 
variety are mostly, if not always, entirely destitute of colour." 
So far as my own observations have gone, such distinction cannot 
be established; nor does that of more hairy leaves for the wild 
plant given by Dr. Boswell in Eng. Bot., ed. 3, avail as a mark 
for separation. 
The larva of the insect Sesia Tipuliformis, Currant Clear-wing 
Moth, is sometimes very injurious to bushes of both the red and 
black currant in gardens about Plymouth, as elsewhere in England, 
through its forming channels in and feeding on the pith of the 
branches. As its attacks seem to be confined to these shrubs, the 
question as to their indigenous character necessarily belongs to it also ; 
that is, if its habit in the matter of food has remained uniform for 
a succession of ages. It is very interesting to see the efforts that 
both the Blue Titmouse and the Coal Tit make to extract these 
larvae from the centre of the stems of currant bushes growing in 
the garden of the house where I write this. By some unaccount- 
able means, which we may conjecture to be either sound or smell, 
the birds become aware of the presence of the hidden insects, and 
make repeated, though sometimes unsuccessful, efforts to pierce through 
their woody envelopes, and get at them. In so doing they form 
light-coloured sections on the currant stems by abraiding the outer 
bark in broad rings. These marks form a sure guide to the place 
of a hidden larva, and show a marvellous instinct in the birds, 
which tells them of the presence and position of an insect entirely 
hidden from their sight. The gooseberry and red currant spring 
