MAGGOTS. 



415 



The cheese-hopper is furnished with two horny claw- 

 shaped mandibles, which it uses both for digging into the 

 cheese and for moving itself, being destitute of feet. Its 

 powers of leaping have been observed by every one ; and 

 Swammerdam says, " I have seen one, whose length did 

 not exceed the fourth of an inch, leap out of a box six 

 inches deep, that is, twenty-four times the length of its 

 own body: others leap a great deal higher."* For this 

 purpose it first erects itself on its tail, which is furnished 

 with two wart-like projections, to enable it to maintain 

 its balance. It then bends itself into a circle, catches the 

 skin near its tail with its hooked mandibles, and after 

 strongly contracting itself from a circular into an oblong 

 form, it throws itself with a jerk into a straight line, and 

 thus makes the leap. 



One very surprising provision is remarkable in the 

 breathing-tubes of the cheese-maggot, which are not placed, 



Cheesp-lioppers (/^o^j/a'Za «(.>;«■, Fallkx). «, the ma?sot extended; 6, in a leaping 

 position ; d, the same magnified ; e, the fly magnified ; /, g, the fly, natural size. 



as in caterpillars, along the sides, but a pair near the 

 head and another pair near the tail. Now, when burrow- 

 ing in the moist cheese, these would be apt to be 

 obstructed; but to prevent this, it has the power of 

 bringing over the front pair a fold of the skin, breathing 

 in the meanwhile through the under pair. Well may 

 Swammerdam denominate these contrivances "surprising 

 miracles of God's power and wih,dom in this abject crea- 

 ture." 



Like the other destructive insects above mentioned, the 



* Bibl. Nattirje, vol. ii. p. 65. 



