MEDICAL PROBLEM. OO 



traced t(i the l)Ite of an unrecorded species of fly which 

 has feasted on animals dead from splenic fever, anthrax, 

 charbon, or Cumberland disease — all names for one mal- 

 ady affecting cattle. 



" Bacillus anthracis, the organism which is the cause of 

 the disease," says Macleay, '' is most tenacious of life ; it 

 has been known to retain its vitality in dried bones and 

 skins for years. Where a carcass has been buried a depth 

 of twelve feet, the Bacilli will in course of years find its 

 way to the surface in the bodies of earth worms." On the 

 other hand, Taschenberg believes that anthrax is not convey- 

 ed bv flies. Both sides are in need of much added research. 



Various species of Hypoderma larvse are occasionally 

 addicted to burrowing beneath the human skin, though 

 the lower animals seem to be their natural prey. Hypo- 

 derma bovis (Plate IV., Fig. 2) is supposed to be the species 

 which Allen^ found under the skin of a lad who had been 

 bathing in a stream running through a pasture. The 

 symptoms caused by these insects are called " warbles " or 

 "bots." Schoyen,^'*-^ Ormerod,^*^^ and others allude to sim- 

 ilar attacks. 



Of the same origin is the disease known as " myiasis," 

 caused by the screw worm, the imago of ^^'hich is Macil- 

 laria hominivorax. (Plate IV., Fig. 7.) Marchi, Low,''^ 

 and Williston^'^ all remark on this disease. Snow ^^^ gives 

 full details of our present knowledge of this terrible 

 species. Matas®^ says it is the habit of this insect to fly 

 suddenly into the ear, nose, or mouth, or light on a sore, 

 and quickly deposit a few eggs. These soon hatch and the 

 screw like worms (Plate IV., Fig. 7) begin at once their 

 task of eating away the tissues until removed or the death 

 of the patient ensues. 



