268 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



the pittance obtained from door to door ; the support 

 he usually received from the benevolent was bread and 

 meat ; and after satisfying the cravings of nature, it 

 was his custom to deposit the surplus provision, par- 

 ticularly the meat, betwixt his shirt and skin. Hav- 

 ing a considerable portion of this provision in store, 

 so deposited, he was taken rather unwell, and laid 

 himself down in a field, in the parish of Scredington ; 

 when, from the heat of the season at that time, the 

 meat speedily became putrid, and was of course 

 struck by the flies : these not only proceeded to 

 devour the inanimate pieces of flesh, but also literally 

 to prey upon the living substance ; and when the 

 wretched man was accidentally found by some of the 

 inhabitants, he was so eaten by the maggots that his 

 death seemed inevitable. After clearing away, as well 

 as they were able, these shocking vermin, those who 

 found Page conveyed him to Asbornby, and a surgeon 

 was immediately procured, who declared that his body 

 was in such a state that dressing it must be little 

 short of instantaneous death, and, in fact, the man did 

 survive the operation but a few hours. When first 

 found, and again when examined by the surgeon, he 

 presented a slight loathsome in the extreme ; white 

 maggots of enormous size were crawling in and upon 

 his body, which they had most shockingly mangled, 

 and the removal of the external ones served only to 

 render the sight more horrid." Kirby adds, " in 

 passing through this parish last spring, I inquired of 

 the mail-coachman whether he had heard this 

 story ; and he said the fact was well known."* The 

 year in which this remarkable circumstance occurred 

 is not mentioned. 



The importance of the insects just mentioned, in 



* lutr., i. 140, and note. 



