91 
blackish wings, black body, and bright red abdomen; it is a 
species of Bracon, In some cases mites were found upon the 
dead caterpillars inside the burrow, but whether these had 
killed the caterpillar, or had simply come to feast upon its dead 
body, is impossible to say, though most likely the former was 
the case. 
Remedies.—An insect so well hidden as this borer can not be 
reached by any poison, and our only hope is to prevent it from 
entering at all. This seems to be very feasible, as the egg is 
deposited upon the cane and not forced below the bark, as is 
frequently the case with borers belonging to the order of 
beetles. When the young currant-borer ieaves the eggs it has 
to come in contact with the bark, through which it has to eat 
its way. If, therefore, the bark could be poisoned, we should 
have a sure remedy, but when it comes to a practical appli- 
cation of this spraying, it will be found that currant-bushes are 
rather difficult to spray so thoroughly as to coat the canes in a 
uniform manner. I have tried repeatedly to coat the canes 
with arsenical poisons before the foliage had appeared. There 
was no difficulty in doing so, but it was found later that the 
plants sprayed in this manner contained just as many borers 
as those not sprayed. This is owing to the fact that at the per- 
iod when this spraying can be done we usually have the most 
frequent rains. There is, however, another remedy, which is 
easily applied, and which—if carefully carried out—will eradi- 
cate this insect from gardens. Canes that harbor the borer 
can always be detected and if found should be pruned below 
the lowest part of the tunnel. The canes that have been cut 
off should be taken away from the garden and burned as soon 
as dry, or if such pruning is done late in the spring the canes 
should be covered up with soil, so as to prevent the moths 
from leaving. Inno case should they be left on the ground, 
because cutting them off from the plant does not kill the borer. 
The pruning is also otherwise of benefit to the currants, which 
are usually permitted to grow too much wood and become too 
old for the benefit of good crops of berries. 
Some varieties of currants and gooseberries are stated to be 
free from borers. If such is the case the writer has not seen 
them. It has also been claimed that black-currants are not to 
the taste of such borers, but I have seen that they not only did 
not escape the ravages of this pest, but were even preferred to 
