NATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES

J. Buckingham, of Rakaia, has sent two specimens of the bacon beetle. I have no -information as to where he found them, but I suspect that at least one person in the district has had a ham or roll of bacon destroyed by grubs, which later turned into these beetles. The specimens sent were about one third of an inch long. The fore* body and thfe-rfeaf half of the wing cases were black, the front half of the wing cases appeared greybrown. Hairs covered the upper aide all over; in fact the greybrown band on the wings appeared to be due- to the colour of the hairs on that part.. Underneath the hairs the wing covers were dark ted. The feelers nr antennae < will

A. Adult bacon beeUi help to identify the beetle; they will be found to be swollen at the tips, so that they look like clubs. In towns where we buy our ham or bacon from the grocer just as we need it. We are not troubled by the bacon beetle. People on farms, however, store their bacon and hams for a long period so that the beetles have plenty of chances to lay their eggs in a suitable place. The grub at first feeds on the outside, and later burrows into the meat. As the sketch shows it is a very hairy little beast. The hairs are arranged in. bundles ■which can be contracted or spread out just as the grub pleases; they greatly assist movement in the burrows. A brood Of these grubs will hollow out a ham leaving nothing but the skin. When fully grown the grubs pupate inside the food material and later emerge as the adult beetles. When we consider that bacon beetles were in existence before man developed the practice of curing and storing ham and bacon, we might wonder what these insects first used for food. Sometimes even now, bacon beetles may he found out in the. open, When the blowfly _ maggots have eaten all the soft pans of a dead animal, aiid only the hard dry skin and sinews |ttmam. the bacon beetle may apand complete the job. in England the pantry, is often known as the larder. Scientific tneme* -are not usually interesting. EJI L f kaow the habits of the beetle,, We can, understand Kraarius ' cnown 55 Hermestes family to which the Ipacon beetle belongs is .'quite m

THE BACON BEETLE

(By L. W. McCaskill)

small one, its members are widely known for their powers of destruction. One member of the family took a fancy to skins and hides in stores in London and increased at such a rate that the merchants joined ■ together to offer a reward of £20,000 for a remedy against the pest. Those in charge of our museums have to fight:a constant war against another relation, the museum beetle. This insect is only one twelfth of an inch long and, as if its small size did not make it difficult enough to detect, it has a habit of tucking its head and legs under its body when disturbed so that it looks just like a piece of dirt. In addition to the usual hairy coat, the grubs have

e, B, Pupa. C. Grub. two brushes at the tail end. With these brushes they can lever .themselves through extremely narrow cracks so that they are often found i In cases and drawers believed to be insect proof. Irt modern museums, special care is taken to make the display cabinets so carefully that these insects cannot get in.. There is still the chance of an egg being attached to a specimen when it is placed in the cabinet so that a constant watch is necessary in case a grub appears inside. A COMPETITION For Girls and Boys of 16 Years and Under Prizes for Crosswords There will be two prizes each week for correct answers to the crossword puzzle on page 3., One prize will be for the first correct answer opened next Tuesday morn* ing (this gives distant readers time to enter), and the other prize will be for the neatest correct answer received. . All envelopes should be marked "crossword” so that they will be kept till Tuesday, when they will be put in- a box, from which they will be drawn. Every correct entry has a chance of wini ningthe prize. This seems a fair way of arranging the competition' for readers who live close at hand and those who live far away. Write your solutions in columns on separate paper; do not send the puzzle itself. And write- .your-

choice of a prize with your name and address on the answer paper. Both prizes will bet a choice from a fountain pen;- a set of paint brushes* a selection pf embroidery threads and a two-bladed pocketknife. The winners this week are Nor ah Foley, Little River, and Zoe Aldridge, Waiau (neatest). There a?e three permissible spellings for the forbidden city: Lhasa, Lhassa and Lassa. We are sorry that the One In the puzzle was not the most usual spelling. _ _

, Homes: Mr K. S, Q. Collins will bo glad to answer readers’ questions about stamps. Those who wish to have personal replies must send stamped addressed envelopes. Reeders who tyiSh to have stamps valued should send those stamps by registered letter with an addressed envelope and stamps for. return registration. Mr Collins cannot undertake to value stamps from descriptions. All questions should be sent to him care ,of “The Press -Junior,’* • The Press" office, Christchurch.: