Saprini, Dermestes and Others 



The extermination is so complete that, to 

 obtain pupae, I have to resort to rearing 

 them in private, guarding the larvae against 

 the invasion of the Saprini. The earthen- 

 ware pans in the open air, though thoroughly 

 searched, never yield me any, however num- 

 erous the maggots were at the outset. Dur- 

 ing my earlier experiments, when as yet I 

 had no suspicion of the massacre, I could not 

 get over my surprise when, after noting an 

 abundance of vermin under this or that piece 

 of carrion a few days before, I no longer 

 found anything, even in the sand. I should 

 have concluded that the occupants had mi- 

 grated in a body, had it been permissible to 

 imagine a maggot making a long journey 

 through a waterless world. 



The Saprini, those lovers of fat sausages 

 are entrusted with the task of thinning out 

 the Grey Fly, of whose twenty thousand off- 

 spring only a few will survive, just enough 

 to maintain the race within proper limits. 

 They flock about the dead Mole or Adder; 

 but, kept at a distance by the too liquid 

 sanies and, for that matter, able to live on 

 a few frugal mouthfuls, they wait until the 

 maggots' work is finished. Then, the lique- 

 faction of the corpse completed, they slaugh- 

 39 



