BEPORT ON ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 85 



apparently often selected when hanging uut to dry, so imieli su tliat in certain parts of Africa 

 it is dangerons to wear woollen clothing next to the skin. 



Fuller mentions that it is averred that the flies lay their eggs upon bedding. The 

 sharp ovipositor seems to point to their being able to lay their eggs directly in the skin. 



The eggs when laid in the former position hatch out rapidly, and the larviE bury 

 themselves under the skin. They at first produce a boil or swelling which leads to 

 inflammation, which becomes most painful owing to the accumulation of excreta and the 

 rasping movements of the spiny maggot. Occasionally this throws the patient into a violent 

 fever. 



In one case, recorded by Fuller, a child under six months had between twenty and thirty 

 maggots taken from its scalp. In the majority of eases, Fuller states, the scalp seems the 

 part most subject to invasion. They are, nevertheless, frequently found in the nose, back, 

 chest, arms, buttocks and legs, and one case is recorded where the maggot occurred in the 

 finger of a baby, and in two cases in the scrotum. 



Mennell says that he believes that " if undisturbed, the larvaj emerge in the course of 

 about a fortnight." Information on this point is given by Fuller, who was informed by a 

 correspondent that he " noticed a maggot fly in his tent on the Tuesday of one week, and on 

 the following Saturday suffered from an itching in the arm and chest. On Monday the spots 

 had taken the form of blind boils, with a black speck in the centre of each. A week later 

 maggots measuring one-third of an inch were expressed from the boils. The fly observed was 

 caught and UvIikj magijoU extruded from the abdomen when squeezed." 



I have added the italics as this statement seems to point to the fact that the fly is at 

 times viviparous. 



Infection may take place either at night or during the daytime. 



The adult is very sluggish in nature and does not move about on windy days. 



Mennell has had the flies settle on him in the daytime and found them very difficult to 

 drive away, but easily killed when thev settle. 



Pupation fakes place on the ground just as in the (JEstrldcc 



After the maggot leaves the skin the wound heals rapidly if treated with antiseptics, 

 but a very pronounced scar remains for a long time. 



Besides man, Bemjalia depressa attacks dogs, rabbits, and other animals. 



BiBLlOGEAPHY 



1. Fuller, C. : The Agricultural Journal of Natal, Vol. IV., No. 21, p. 656 to 658, 



Dec. 20 (1901). 



2. Theobald, F. V. : Second Report on Economic Zoology, British Museum (Nat. Hist.), 



p. 112 (1904). 



3. Mennell, F. P. : Proceedings of the Rhodesia Scientific Association, Vol. IV., Pt. 1., 



pp. 7-9. 



4. Peringuey, L. : Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society, Various. 



The Congo Floor Maggot 

 [Auchmcromyia hiteola, Fabricius) 

 A specimen of this fly was taken by Dr. Sheffield Neave, in the Sudan. The fiv is Auchmeromyia 

 well known and is widely distributed in both tropical and subtropical Africa. 



Its interest lies in the strange habits and blood-loving propensities of the maggots of 

 the fly which have been recently shown by Drs. Dufton, Todd and Christy (Reports of the 



