171 
ner in a rival firm chanced to mention that his business had profited 
considerably by the publication that So-and-so’s shoes were “wormy”; 
and the latter declared that the attention which the “bug-hunters” 
had drawn to the matter “had damaged his trade to the extent of sev- 
eral thousand dollars.” Such experiences inculcate caution in merean- 
tile circles, and through this the entomologist undoubtedly loses many 
an interesting subject for study. Perhaps this might be amended if 
it was understood that names would not be published without per- 
mission. 
In the case of the insect upon which I beg here to offer a few notes, 
no household pest is, perhaps, better known. The manufacturer, the 
grocer, and the housekeeper have each a considerable share in the loss 
which it occasions. Forages it has been the chief enemy of the cheese- 
maker, the best and richest of his products being most liable to its 
attacks. It does not, however, confine its ravages to cheese, but within 
comparatively recent years has become known as an equally, or rather 
far more, formidable destroyer of cured meats, causing the loss of 
thousands of dollars worth of property annually, and necessitating 
the expenditure of other thousands in labor and mechanical contriv- 
ances to keep it in check. 
Although of European origin it has spread to all parts of North 
America, where it probably does tenfold the damage that it does in its 
native country. In view of these facts, and considering the hundreds 
of articles that have been published upon insects of no greater economic 
importance, it is really surprising that the American records of this 
pest should be so few and so brief. Before entering upon an investi- 
gation of its habits I made a search for the literature of the subject 
only to find that it had received but slight attention from our entomolo- 
gists, from either a scientific or an economic standpoint. The only 
notes relating to it that are to be found in the annals of American 
Economic Entomology are the following: 
In the American Entomologist (vol. 11), published in 1870, is a copy 
of an article by X. A. Willard, giving a somewhat elaborate account of 
the destructiveness of the insect as a “ cheese fly,” with various recom- 
mendations of measures to be taken in factories and storerooms to pre- 
serve the products from its attacks. Appended to this is an editorial 
note giving an outline of its life history, with the statement that, so far 
as was then known, it was exclusively a cheese pest. In volume m1 of 
the same periodical, published in 1880, Dr. Riley briefly discusses it as 
an enemy of cured meats, here asserting its identity with the cheese fly. 
Dr. Packard, in his Guide, gives in a few lines its principal character- 
istics and refers to an observation of Prof. Putnam concerning the 
method by which it “skips.” In volume Iv of Pysche I remember to 
‘have seen something on the subject, but can not at present lay my 
hands upon the number containing it. In the report of the Entomolog- 
ical Society of Ontario for 1884 is also a brief paragraph of description 
n 
i 
