26 THE FLY-EGG, LARVA, AND CHRYSALIS 



after it was laid by the fly, and the larva or maggot or 

 caterpillar appears. 



The process of the hatching of the fly-egg may be 

 watched with the help of a magnify ing-glass. One end 

 of the banana-shaped egg is more pointed than the 

 other. It is towards this pointed end that a minute 

 split suddenly takes place. The split is continued back 

 towards the blunter end of the egg and then the 

 maggot slowly wriggles out. When it has freed itself 

 completely the egg-shell collapses, shrinks slowly, and 

 becomes brown, withered, and dry. 



The fly-larva, when it first appears, is a tiny, 

 crawling creature, a white maggot like a cheese- 

 mite. Its head end is more pointed than the other, 

 which is blunt. Like a caterpillar, it is composed of 

 segments in the case of the fly eleven in number 

 which separate and close when the insect moves, much 

 as the opening and shutting of a concertina or the 

 bending action of a lobster's tail. The head of the 

 fly-larva has a hook above the mouth, which it uses 

 to get its food. Underneath the maggot there are 

 some minute hooks or claws, with which it obtains 

 its " grasp of the situation," and these assist it to crawl 

 from one place to another. The larva breathes through 

 small holes in the last segment, and from these the air 

 is conveyed by tubes to all parts of its body. A 

 remembrance of the fact that the larva must breathe 

 is of the greatest importance, for it enables us to drown 

 it easily one of the methods to be employed in 

 organised fly-reduction. 



The fly-maggot, when surrounded by plenty of food, 

 grows rapidly in the hot weather. The rate of its 

 development is dependent on the temperature of the 

 surroundings, as was the egg. In the course of its 



