SOME INSECTS AFFECTING CHEESE, HAMS, FRUIT, ETC. 105 



THE RED-LEGGED HAM BEETLE. 

 (Xecrohia rufipes DeG.) 



Two or three species of small beetles belonging to the family Cleridre, 

 and which arc normally scavengers, feed occasionally ni)on dried meats 

 and other stored animal products. The most abundant one in this 

 country is the species indicated in the title. It is a small, rather slen- 

 der beetle of dark bluish color, with reddish legs. Its larva is a slender 

 worm, and is at first white, with a brown head and two small hooks at 

 the end of the body. As it becomes older it becomes darker, and when 

 full grown is grayish white, with a series of browu patches above. It 

 is then rather more than one-half an inch in length and transforms 

 within a i^aper-like cocoon. From the appearance of this cocoon the 



insect has become known 

 as the "pai)er worm*^ to 

 dealers in hams and dried 

 meats. 



Xecrohia riifii)cs is a cos- 

 mopolitan si)ecies, occur- 

 ring all over the United 

 States, in Europe. Austra- 

 lia, Africa, and the East 

 Indies. It is hardly a spe- 

 cies that causes a constant 

 draiu upon the profits of 

 the trade, but occasion- 

 ally, under exceptional 

 circumstances, it becomes 

 extremely abundant, and 

 may ruin manj'hams. It 

 is particularly abundant in the West 



0^ 



Fig. 49. — Xecrf.bia riijipes : a. larva: J/, head 

 of same: c. adult beetle — a, c. enlarged: 

 h. greatly eularged (original*. 



uncommon, and 



is by no mean 

 and South. 



The injuries caused by this insect are generally due to careless pack- 

 ing of hams or to the accidental cutting or cracking or even to a con- 

 siderable stretching or fraying of the canvas covering. 



As indicated above, this insect is not confined to hams for its food, but 

 lives upon other dead animal matter, not always waiting, however, as do 

 certain other insects, for decomposition to set in before beginning its 

 attacks. The beetle, appearing in ]\lay or June, cither having bred in 

 the storehouse or storeroom in (question, or having fiown in froai the 

 outside, is attracted to the hams, and wherever it can find the slightest 

 bit of exposed meat it lays a number of minute, narrow, whitish eggs. 

 Such hams as have been injured by overheating or by hanging too long 

 in the sun, from rain, and particularly those which have become slimy 

 from lying too long in the pile, are those which attract it most; but it 

 never seems to lay eggs excei)t where the meat is more or less exposed, 



