1899] CHEESE AND BACON FLY. 13 



rooms. These small flies and maggots begin their life and work after 

 the curing, and in course of the drying." 



On Aug. 1st the following letter was sent me, which shows that 

 some amount of remedial measure was being satisfactorily brought to 

 bear on the infestation by the use of a fly powder : — 



" I am happy to tell you we are finding that by a free use of 

 a fly powder * we are clearing our store of a large number of 

 insects. We still have much trouble with the cured Hams. . . . 

 We find the mischief caused so soon after curing, that we are arranging 

 to bag the Hams immediately they come from the curing-room, and 

 dry the Ham and the bag together." — (Communication from Ham- 

 curing Company.) 



In the observations quoted previously a passage occurs regarding 

 egg-laying of this fly : — " I have not been able to make it oviposit on 

 fresh meat of any kind, nor does it seem able to breed upon that which 

 is simply salted." . . . 



Relatively to how far this latter point might be the case in broad- 

 scale trade treatment (that is to say, whether the fly would not attack 

 salt meat unless also smoked), I made some special enquiries from the 

 Company, from which I received a good-sized sample of very thoroughly 

 " hopper "-infested Ham, and was favoured by them with the in- 

 formation that their '^Hams were not smoked," and suffered much more 

 than the smoked Bacon. Their reply was as follows : — " With reference 

 to the fly being attracted by smoked meat, we do not attach so much 

 importance to the actual condition of the meat as to the condition of the 

 atmosphere in which the meat is kept, and whether such is favourable 

 to the fly or otherwise. 



" Our Hams are not smoked, but sweet-cured and dried. It has 

 always seemed to us that the peculiar aroma from these Hams has 

 been attractive to the fly. We may say that in our business we have 

 large quantities of smoked Bacon, but we do not find this suffers in 

 anything like the same degree as the Hams. The fact that the flies 

 do not breed so much in salted meat as in smoked is probably owing 

 to the fact that the former is kept in cellars of low temperature." — 

 (Sec. of Curing Co., referred to.) 



The records of the method of attack of this fly to Ham and Bacon 

 given in 'Insect Life,' vol. vi. (referred to in note, p 8, preceding), agree 

 with what I was able to notice in the specimen sent to myself for 

 examination. " The lean meat was never in any case penetrated, . . . 

 nor was the solid fat much damaged. . . . Myriads of ' skippers ' and 

 puparia, in all stages of development, were found in the packages 

 reported on, clustering round the bony ends of ham and shoulder, and 

 in the softer fat, and oil-saturated folds of the canvas wrappers." 

 * Keating's Fly Powder might very likely be useful. — E. A. 0. 



