358 



FAMILY SARCOPHAGIDJE. 



(Flesh Flies.) 



The habits of these flies are thus described by 

 Froggatt: ''They lay their eggs on living larva;, 

 upon meat or other exposed food, and are knov^n 

 as 'scavenger flies' because they frequent evil- 

 smelling places like pig-sties and slaughter-yards. 

 Some species are known to deposit their larvae in 

 the nostrils of sheep, and there are several records 

 of death of human beings from infestation by these 

 maggots." It is recorded, however, that they 

 parasitise the young of the plague locust (a short- 

 horned grasshopper), and this is of economic 

 importance. 



Note that the antenna of the sarcophagids has 

 the bristle plumed only at the base. (Plate 43, Fig, 

 6 b.) 



The common Sarcophaga is a little larger than 

 a house fly, and has a marked grey and black 

 appearance, with black bars on the thorax and 

 with a pattern more or less regular on the abdomen. 



