110 
WARBLES. 
the Devon Cattle Breeders’ Society):—“ I received your communication 
on my way to Taunton Market on Saturday ; one butcher, well known 
to me, and a man of great experience, told me he killed a bullock a 
few days before so discoloured by licking the Warble-grubs that he had 
to scrape off nearly the whole of the spine (fat) to render the carcase 
presentable for sale.” 
I have myself also had the opportunity of seeing the altered state 
and colour of parts of the surface of a carcase from which the hide, 
when removed, had been found to be so infested with Warbles that I 
was asked to come and look at it. This was at Spring Grove, near 
Isle worth, and the butcher cut thin slices off the discoloured yellow 
part to show me how much the condition was altered from that of the 
healthy portions (E. A. 0.). 
How far the altered condition of the surface may affect the taste 
of the meat does not seem certain; I have only had a few reports on 
this subject, but from these, most of the evidence appears to lean to 
the taste being altered. 
In the following notes, kindly procured for me by Mr. McGillivray, 
Secretary of the Hide Inspection Society, Newcastle-on-Tyne, from 
butchers of that town, it will be seen two of the writers consider the 
taste to be altered, but the other writer does not:— 
Mr. M. H. Penman, Gateshead, writes:—“Your letter to hand. 
There is nothing nastier than licked beef, and the worst of it is that it 
is always licked on the most expensive parts, viz., the back, which 
comprises the sirloin and forecliain ; and it is quite true that it not 
only gives the beef an unpleasant appearance, but a nasty, bitter taste. 
If I knew, I would not buy a licked beast, supposing I could get it at 
a shilling a stone less.” 
Mr. W. C. Brown, Newcastle, writes:—“In reply to your note of 
to-day respecting ‘ licked beef,’ my experience teaches me that the 
quality is not at all deteriorated; it interferes very much with the 
outward appearance, and more if the beef hangs for a week or 
more; the colour becomes somewhat darker, but certainly it has 
not a bitter taste, for only on Sunday last we cooked a piece (of 
beef of that character) from an animal slaughtered ten days before, 
which was very much licked, and beef of better quality no one 
could eat.” 
Mr. Wm. Thompson, Newcastle, writes:—“ When beef is badly 
licked, it is very bitter; I have seen it quite unsaleable, all the outside 
fat taken off, and you could not get the bottom of it. Sometimes it is 
so bad that it is right through the chain and down to the rib-bone, 
when it is as bad as that it is quite useless. We must carry on the 
crusade until the Warble-pest has been annihilated.” 
It is perhaps worse than useless to venture a conjecture where 
