THE CHEESE SKIPPER AS A PEST IX CURED MEATS 5 



The only considerable work on the occurrence of this pest in 

 human graves was done by Motter (6%), at Washington, D. C, and 

 reported in 1898. Doctor Motter found remains of this insect in at 

 least 10 of the 150 graves examined, these 10 graves being from 3 to 

 10 years old and from 3 to 6 feet deep. These data not only invite 

 speculation as to the avenue of inv asion of graves by the species, but 

 oppose the theory advanced by some writers that darkness is a con- 

 dition repellent to the insect. 



Murtfeldt (53, p. 174) was unable to obtain oviposition on fresh 

 meat of any kind and she found that P. easel did not seem to be able 

 to develop on salted but unsmoked meat. She reported that smoked 

 beef is also attacked but not so severely as smoked pork. In the 

 discussion following the reading of her article before the American 

 Association of Economic Entomologists it was brought out that in 

 England and continental Europe the custom exists " of placing cheese 

 under the tap of a beer keg so that the drip would encourage the 

 development of the insect." 



Ormerod (54, p* 9) included salted beef in the list of food media 

 of the cheese skipper, and stated that there is no doubt about the 

 failure of the insect to oviposit in fresh meat. 



According to the investigations of Howard (33 p. 589) the adult is 

 attracted to human excreta. 



Krausse (40) reported that sheep-milk cheese, an extremely salty 

 product, swarmed with the maggots during the summer on the 

 island of Sardinia. 



A single record, not duplicated since, of infested oleomargarine 

 was noted by Banks (10, p. 35). 



Mote (51, pp. 314-315) found that both lean and fat beefsteak hav- 

 ing a slightly putrid odor was apparently the most attractive food 

 material to adults, exceeding in this respect lean and fat ham, lean 

 and fat bacon, and Schweitzer cheese. He observed that " the adult 

 flies lived longer, and the larvae fed and matured more readily, on 

 the beefsteak than on the other substances." 



In his popular account of the cheese skipper, published in Italy, 

 Berlese (11, pp. 118-121) made no mention of other food media than 

 cheese. 



Among the packing houses of the Middle AVest, Bishopp (12, 

 p. 271) found skippers plentiful, especially among inedible materials 

 in storage. Hoofs, horns, and particularly dried bones produced the 

 insect in large numbers. Further observations under the same con- 

 ditions were recorded by Laake in Pierce's work on Sanitary En- 

 tomology (57, p. 455). This investigator found skippers, often ac- 

 companied by hide beetles, swarming by millions in bone-storage 

 houses. Improperly dried stocks of bones and hog hair are often 

 infested with skippers and the larvae of blowflies. 



Bachmann (9) could not get the larvae to thrive in fat ham or in 

 bacon. After feeding on cheese, and in one case after feeding first 

 on ham and then on cheese, larvae were given common salt for a time, 

 after which, he reported, pupation occurred. He also recorded hav- 

 ing seen the larvae living in water glass (sodium silicate). 



The most extensive and graphic account of damage by the cheese 

 skipper is that of Sakharov (67), a translation of whose interesting 

 publication on the insect pests of cured fish in Astrachan has been 



