THE CHEESE SKIPPER AS A PEST IN CURED MEATS 35 



George W. Ellington in company with the species of insects listed 

 below. 4 



COI.EOPTERA 



Dermestidae : Dermestes lardarius L., D. talpinus Mann., D. vulpinus Fab., 

 Trogoderma sp., Attagenus piceus Oliv.. Anthrenus sp. 

 Silphidae : Xecrodes surinamensis Fab. 

 Staphylinidae : Creophilus maxillosus L. 

 Ptinidae : Ptinus brunneus Duft. 



Tenebrionidae : Tribolium ferrugineum Fab.. Tenebrio molitor L. 

 Cucujidae : Oryzaephilus surinamensis L. 

 Trogostidae : Tenebroides mauritamcus L. 

 Cleridae: Xecrobia rufipes DeG., N. ruficollis Fab. 



Lucilia sp. 



Lepisma saccharina L. 



Undetermined ants. 



DIPTERA 

 THYSANURA 

 HYMEXOPTERA 

 EUPLEXOPTERA 



Anisolabis annullpes Lucas. 



Of the foregoing, the cadelle (Tenebroides mauritamcus) , the two 

 species of Xecrobia, and the earwig, Anisolabis, are predacious, the 

 last three species feeding freely on live skipper larvae in the labora- 

 tory. Dermestes vulpinus has predacious tendencies; a half -grown 

 larva was deprived of other food and given migrant skipper larva?, 

 some of which pupated, but 10 were killed and eaten either as larvae 

 or pupse within four days. 



CONTROL MEASURES 



There are four phases to the practice of control of Piophila casei 

 as a pest in cured meat : (1) Preventing adult skippers from entering 

 meat storage rooms, (2) preventing infestation of meats stored in 

 rooms to which the flies have access, (3) killing skippers in infested 

 meat, and (4) killing skippers in storage rooms. 



PREVENTING THE FLIES FROM ENTERING STORAGE ROOMS 



Screening is the best method for keeping the skipper flies out of 

 storage rooms. A number of entomologists have recommended that 

 wire cloth with 20 or 24 meshes per inch should be used for this 

 purpose. Several trials of these sizes were made during the present 

 investigation, and the writer concludes that wire cloth should be at 

 least 30 meshes per inch in order to prevent passage of the flies. 

 Table 15 gives the results of these experiments, in which puparia 

 were placed in glass containers which were then closed with wire 

 cloth and inclosed in a larger container. Flies which escaped through 

 the wire cloth were counted. 



* The writer is indebted to E. A. Schwarz and A. N. Caudell. of the Bureau of 

 Entomology, for the determination, respectively, of several of the Coleoptera and of 

 the earwig. 



