Tavelfth Report of the State Entomologist 233 



from the egg to the adult is four to five weeks, and that there are two or 



three generations during the summer, — the last occurring in September, 



the larva hibernating in the puparium and transforming to the pupa in 



May. Other writers claim that the insect passes the winter in the adult 



stage. 



Food Habits. 



The insect has long been known as a cheese pest. In a notice of it in 

 1879, by Prof. Ri'ey, it is suggested that the original food of the skippers 

 before cheese was ever made, must have been some analogous substance 

 — possibly a peculiar kind of fungus. The following year he established 

 the identity of the meat skipper with the well known pest in cheese. 



In addition to smoked ham and bacon, the fly will also oviposit and 

 breed in smoked beef, but apparently has a decided preference for pork. 

 Such was the experience of a correspondent of Miss Murtfeldt, who 

 wrote concerning injury to beef by skippers as follows : " If a beef ham 

 were hanging beside that of a hog, the former would most likely be O. 

 K. while the latter would be stung." Dr. Howard mentions chipped 

 beef as one of the meats in which the fly will breed. To the above it 

 seems that salt pork may also be added. " Germar is said to have bred 

 this insect from salt alone" (Glover, loc. cit.), but if so, the larva must 

 have developed in some other food and entered the salt for pupation. 



The fly is said to be an excellent judge of cheese, and it is usually the 

 best qualities that are affected. So marked is this, that "skippery" 

 cheese may be pronounced of good quality, although hardly so because 

 of the presence of the skippers. 



Losses Caused by the Insect. 



The principal damage in this country is believed to be confined to 

 meats, although Mr.°X. A. Willard {loc. cit.) in 1879 writes: " Immense 

 losses are sustained every year on account of skippery cheese. Some- 

 times thousands of pounds in factories are tainted in this way, and the 

 cheese has to be sold for what it will bring, while a portion is not 

 infrequently so badly affected that it has to be thrown away at the 

 factory." 



In 1880, Prof Riley {loc. rif.) recorded an injury of smoked hams to 

 the extent of over two thousand dollars, inflicted by this insect upon a 

 single firm in Peoria, 111. Miss Murtfeldt, in 1892, was informed by an 

 employe in one of the largest packing and curing establishments in the 

 West, as follows: "It entails an enormous loss upon all our packing- 

 house companies." Similarly, Prof Kellogg's attention was called to the 

 insect through the packing-houses of Kansas City, Mo., being seriously 

 troubled by the pest. 



