Fig. 31.—Early stages of Anobium paniceum. A, Eggs, variable in form; B, larva; C, pupa; D, asymmetrical processes terminating body of pupa. This larva is probably the ‘book-worm’ of librarians. (From David Sharp, The Cambridge Natural History, vol. vi.)
The larva of this beetle is in truth a book-worm. Its interest for us in the present series is, however, the disastrous infestation of ships’ biscuits, which frequently is so severe that the sailors ‘hard-tack’ is rendered uneatable. Heating, of course, kills it; but the biscuits are still uneatable. The dead larvae are as unpalatable as the living. The contrivance of biscuit-tins since Marryat’s time has done much to lessen the evils. Tradition has it that a great firm and a great fortune had their foundations laid, during the first half of the last century, by the accidental contiguity of a baker’s shop and that of a tinsmith.
CHAPTER XI
THE FIG-MOTH[13] (Ephestia cautella)
All’ amico mondagli il fico.
(Italian Proverb.)
The extension of the War to Turkey and Asia Minor has drawn attention to the existence of certain insects whose larvae exercise a very deleterious effect on valuable food-supplies in the Near East. The inhabitants of Asiatic Turkey, without knowing it, have from time immemorial adopted the advice of Captain Cuttle: ‘Train up a fig-tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade on it. Overhaul the—— Well,’ said the Captain, ‘on second thoughts, I ain’t quite certain where that’s to be found, but when found, make a note of.’
Asia Minor may indeed be described as the fig-ground of the East, and anything that interferes with the fig as a food is likely to interfere with the well-being of our troops
Fig. 32.—Typical Smyrna fig-orchard in Meander Valley, Asia Minor, whence come the best figs for export.