118 
Parasitic Arthropoda 
87. Cordylobia anthropophaga (x3). 
After Fulleborn. 
This habit of blood-sucking by museid larvae is usually referred 
to as peculiar to Aucheromyia luteola but it should be noted that the 
larvae of Protocalliphora frequent the 
nests of birds and feed upon the 
young. Mr. A. F. Coutant has studied 
especially the life-history and habits 
of P. azurea, whose larvae he found 
attacking young crows at Ithaca, N.Y. 
He was unable to induce the larvae to 
feed on man. 
Cordylobia anthropophaga, ( Ochro - 
myia anthropophaga), or Tumbu-fly 
(fig. 87) is an African species whose 
larva; affect man much as do those of 
Dermatobia cyniventris, of Central and 
South America. The larva (fig. 88), which is known as “ver du 
Cayor” because it was first observed in Cayor, in Senegambia, 
develops in the skin of man and of various animals, such as dogs, 
cats, and monkeys. It is about 12 mm. in length, and of the form 
of the larvae of other muscids. Upon the intermediate segments are 
minute, brownish recurved spines which give to the larva its char¬ 
acteristic appearance. The life-history is not satisfactorily worked 
out, but Fuller (1914), after reviewing 
the evidence believes that, as a rule, it 
deposits its young in the sleeping places 
of man and animals, whether such be a 
bed, a board, the floor, or the bare ground. 
In the case of babies, the maggots may 
be deposited on the scalp. The minute 
maggots bore their way painlessly into 
the skin. As many as forty parasites 
have been found in one individual and 
one author has reported finding more 
than three hundred in a spaniel puppy. 
Though their attacks are at times ex¬ 
tremely painful, it is seldom that any 
serious results follow. 
