Vol. XXVli] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 50 



Hermetia illucens Breeding in a Human Cadaver 



(Dipt.).* 



By L. H. DUNN, Board of Health Laboratory, Ancon, Canal 



Zone. 



The flies of the Stratiomyidae, or "soldier flies" family, 

 seem to have a great variety of breeding places, especially 

 those of the species that are terrestrial, some being carnivor- 

 ous, while other nearly allied species will only deposit their 

 eggs on decaying vegetable matter. Hermetia illucens, the 

 species so common in both North and South America, shows 

 a considerable variation in the selection of food material for 

 the larvae, but in the literature at hand I have been unable to 

 find any record of their breeding in a human cadaver as in 

 the case which came under my observation, and which may 

 be of interest to those who are engaged in making observa- 

 tions on this family. 



A few months ago the body of a man was found lying in 

 the jungle about three miles from one of the settlements in 

 the Canal Zone. It was evidently a case of suicide and death 

 had occurred as the result of a gunshot wound in the head. 

 The body was identified by the metal check and other articles 

 found in the pockets of the clothing as being that of a man 

 who had been missing for more than a month, and evidently 

 had been lying on the ground exposed to the elements for 

 that length of time, and was badly decomposed ; the clothing, 

 bones, and a little flesh remaining. 



When found, the remains were covered with the long dark 

 larvae of H. illucens. They were in such great numbers that 

 some parts of the body, and even places on the sodden cloth- 

 ing, were covered with crawling masses of larvae almost half 

 an inch deep. There must have been several thousands of 

 the larvae on the body upon its arrival at the morgue (which 

 is a building connected with the laboratory), and these were 

 but a part of the numbers covering it when first discovered. 



* Read before The Medical Association of the Isthmian Canal Zone, 

 October 16, 1915. 



