ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Nov., '10 



These eggs are pearly white, elongated oval in shape and 

 when placed under a microscope are quite transparent and 

 show a groove down one side. The eggs begin to hatch the 

 day after they are laid, unless it is cold weather, when the 

 development is retarded somewhat. 



However, one does not always notice the larvae, as im- 

 mediately after emergence they begin to burrow into their 

 host, unless they are in dense shade or it is cool weather. A 

 casual observer might never realize that there were any mag- 

 gots in the meat and yet, if it is pressed open or raised up, 

 it will be seen to be nothing but a squirming mass of them 

 protected from heat and light by an outer shell of their host. 

 In one case forty maggots ate the whole inside out of a piece 

 of meat an inch square in four days. Linnaeus says the larvae 

 of three blow-flies will devour the carcass of a horse as 

 quickly as a lion. 



A newly-hatched maggot, apparently headless, tailless, 

 footless, and semi-transparent, is nearly cylindrical in shape, 

 but tapers somewhat towards one end ; and its two long 

 tracheae running the whole length of its body as well as its 

 black, powerful jaws, which enable one to determine the posi- 

 tion of its head, may be plainly seen by the naked eye. Al- 

 though all the motions of his internal organs may be distinct- 

 ly seen with a microscope, yet in the very young larva the 

 alimentary tract could not be traced, while the course of the 

 tracheae could be followed showing a branch and its two smaller 

 branches in each segment and under high power, magnifying 

 450 times, one could see the fine projections at the thickest 

 part of each segment on the ventral side, which part of the 

 body is slightly flattened. The projections aid in locomotion, 

 as do the jaws in some degree, for they grasp their food very 

 firmly, yet these larvae move in much the same manner as do 

 worms and can travel in either direction with great rapidity. 

 It is due to their general appearance and manner of loco- 

 motion that they are often termed worms and the resemblance 



^Charlotte Taylor, Flics, Harper's Vol. xviii. 



