106 PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



or, at all eveuts, if it does lay tlie eggs, the young grubs, on liatcliing, 

 fail to reach the meat, except where they are not obliged to penetrate 

 the canvas. 



The larvae hatch in a few days and burrow into the fatty tissue near 

 the rind, growing rapidly, and seeming to congregate, by preference, 

 in the liollow of the bone at the butt end of the ham. As stated above, 

 they are, when first hatched, white in color, with a brown head and two 

 small hooks at the end of the body. They are slender and very active, 

 and upon reaching full growth they either gnaw into the muscle of the 

 ham or occasionally eat into a neighboring beam, forming a glistening, 

 paper-like cocoon, which appears granulated on the outside. Within 

 this cocoon the larva casts its skin and assumes the pupa state, issuing 

 as a perfect beetle in a longer or a shorter time. According to Dr. 

 Eiley, who treated this species in his Sixth Eeport on the Insects of 

 Missouri (p. 96), there are several generations in the course of a year 

 at St. Louis, but the winter is invariably passed in the larval condition, 

 the first beetles appearing, as previously stated, not earlier than the 

 1st of May, and usually not before the middle of that month. ^ 



REMEDIES 



The only remedies which need be insisted upon in case of customary 

 damage to ham bj" this insect are the early and very careful packing of 

 the hams and the use of strong canvas, impenetrable by the insect, and 

 which is not likely to fray or break. These measures are the direct 

 result of the knowledge of the life history of the insect. 



Two instances in the experience of Dr. Eiley are of sufficient interest 

 to deserve specific mention. In 1871 and in previous j^ears the firm of 

 Francis Whittaker & Sons, of St. Louis, had suff'ered serious loss from 

 the damage done by this beetle. After an investigation of the facts 

 they were advised that all of the canvasing on the hams should be done 

 earlier than was customary, or prior to the first of May, and also that a 

 heavier canvas be used, to prevent the possibiiitj^ of its giving way 

 upon the small ends. This advice was followed, with the result that 

 during the ensuing year not a single ham was lost or returned by a 

 customer on account of worms. 



The second case was that of S. S. Pierce, of Boston, who, in May, 

 1873, received 22 tierces of hams from a Cincinnati firm. The hams 

 were taken from the casks and hung in the loft, and not examined until 

 August, when they were found to be full of worms. Claim was made 

 on the packers for damages, and it was finally agreed to leave the 

 matter to referees, who were selected from prominent packers, and who 

 decided in favor of the Cincinnati firm. The fact is, however, as could 



^Mr. Schwarz states that he has found the adult beetles in the dead of winter in 

 Detroit, Mich., and Cambridge, Mass., and calls our attention to the fact that the 

 species is recorded by H. T. Fay in his article on winter collecting (Proc, Entom. 

 Soc. Phil., Vol. I, p. 197, 1862). 



