io ANIMAL PROTEINS 



quently yield often a more spready hide. The Welsh breeds 

 for rather similar reasons also yield valuable hides. The 

 Irish " Kerrys " are small but stout, and yield hides suitable 

 for light sole leather. Irish crossbreeds, Shorthorns, have 

 a rather bad reputation, and are often ill flayed. 



All the varieties of the home supply are subject to 

 various defects, which influence seriously their commercial 

 value. One of these defects is warble holes or marks, 

 caused by the Ox Warble fly (Hypoderma bovis). This is 

 a two-winged fly about half an inch long. The larva of 

 this fly, the " Warble maggot," lives and thrives in the skin 

 of cattle, and causes a sore and swelling. The life-history 

 of this insect is still in dispute, but it is generally thought 

 that the eggs are laid in the hair on the animal's back, 

 and the young larva eats its way through the hide until 

 just below the dermis, and there feeds until mature. It 

 then creeps out of this " warble hole," falls to the ground, 

 pu pates for a month, after which the imago or perfect 

 insect emerges from the chrysalis. Hides which have been 

 thus infected have, in consequence, often quite a number of 

 holes through the most valuable part of the hide, thereby 

 rendering it unsuitable for many kinds of leather. Even 

 old "warbles" which have more or less healed up are a 

 weakness, and warbled hides and leather fetch a decidedly 

 lower price than undamaged. Another of these defects is 

 bad flaying. Clearly the hide should be as little cut as 

 ible, but many of our market hides are abominably 

 gashed and often cut right through. This, of course, often 

 reduces seriously the commercial value of the hide. Careless 

 treatment after flaying also results in another common 

 defect, viz. taint. As the term implies, the hide is partly 

 putrefied, sometimes only in patches, but sometimes 

 also so extensively as to render the hide quite rotten and 

 quite incapable of being made into leather at all. Hides 

 are of course putrescible, and dirt, blood, dung and warm 

 weather encourage rapid putrefaction. As market hides 

 are usually uncured, this defect is constantly appearing, 

 and is a cause of considerable loss. Other defects are due 



