THE CHEESE SKIPPER AS A PEST IN CURED MEATS 7 



gots of the skipper, some adults having been able to emerge and 

 produce eggs. A number of the larvae were able to pupate under 

 these adverse conditions. The attribute of resistance of the cheese 

 skipper to unfavorable conditions is referred to on succeeding pages. 

 Infestations in bacon, salt pork (unsmoked), and dried cooked bones 

 have been observed by the writer. 



By far the greatest damage to edible products in this country 

 is done to hams and shoulders which have been cured and smoked. 

 In the writer's experience the fresher these are the more rapid the 

 progress of the infestation. Old pieces of meat which have become 

 hard and dry, sometimes covered by a coating of blue mold and 

 by a salvelike layer of fat, seem to be relatively immune from attack. 



THE CHEESE SKIPPER AND DISEASE 



Were it not for the fact that stored food products such as ham 

 and bacon are usually cooked before being eaten, the possibilities 

 for the adult fly to bring infection to human beings through the 

 medium of polluted food might be considerable. The sources from 

 which the flies may come include some which are extremely filthy. 

 Aside from differences in size and abundance, adults of P. casei 

 might be viewed with much the same concern as are now those 

 of the house fly (Musca domestica L.). Visits of the adults to 

 cheese, which is usually eaten uncooked, might result in the spread 

 of enteric diseases and other maladies. Although no experimental 

 evidence is at hand to indict this species, its haunts and habits 

 do not absolve it from suspicion as a possible vector of disease. 



The custom of consuming infested cheese has sometimes caused 

 much discomfort to those who have indulged themselves in it. The- 

 bault (76) concluded that larvae can pass through the intestines of 

 man without dying, and that serious intestinal lesions are caused by 

 them. Similar conclusions have been reached by Alessandrini (4, 

 ■5), and this investigator found that the same is true of dogs, in 

 which intestinal lesions are always caused when they are fed with 

 the maggots. Austen (8, pp. 13-14) •, Banks (10, p. 35), Pavloski 

 (56), and Colombe and Foulkes (14) also reported cases of intestinal 

 myiasis. This is the insect most often found in the intestines of 

 man, according to the publication of the Office of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture on the insects of military camps (77, p. 8). It has even 

 been known to pupate in the human intestine and there to develop 

 into adults, causing intense colic (71). The case of a woman who 

 suffered from larvae of P. casei in the nose was reported by Bond 

 (2). Austen (8) stated that in Italy the larvae "have been expec- 

 torated by a patient suffering from an infection of the chest." 

 According to Riley and Johannsen (64, pp. 137-138), Portschinsky 

 found several dead larvae of this species in the appendix of a dog. 



From the foregoing compilation of cases it is evident that to 

 swallow the larvae of this insect, equipped as it is with sharp oral 

 hooks or claws, and with extraordinary powers of resistance, may 

 result in much discomfort. The utter inconsistency of people who 

 eat these maggots has been pointed out by Berlese (11, pp. 118-121), 

 who argued that those who prefer skippered cheeses would turn in 

 disgust from food polluted by an adult fly of the same species. 



