Insect infestation in gourds

On the buggy gourds: I don't want to overkill on this subject,
particularly since the advice on killing the critters that has been
supplied has been so good. It is important to find out how the bugs
got there in the first place.  If the object came into the
collection already infested, then should it have been caught
earlier?  Were other objects needlessly exposed?  Have other objects
been checked to make sure that they aren't infested as well?

Conservators are always happy to provide technical expertise.  The
other parts of this kind of problem sometimes involve making
recommendations on how other museum staff should be doing their
jobs, and this is a more delicate business.

B. Appelbaum

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:26
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 16, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-26-001
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