Saprini, Dermestes and Others 



Reaumur reassures us: 



"Despite such amazing fertility," he says, 

 "these sorts of Flies are not commoner than 

 others which resemble them and in whose 

 ovaries we find only two eggs. The mag- 

 gots of the former are seemingly destined to 

 feed other insects, which very few of them 

 escape." 



Now which are the insects charged with 

 this task of extirpation? The master sus- 

 pects their existence ; he guesses that they are 

 there, without having had the occasion to ob- 

 serve them. My retting-vats provide me 

 with the means of filling up this historical 

 gap; they show me the consumers at their 

 appointed task of thinning out the obtrusive 

 maggot. Let me record this tragic business. 



A larger Adder is liquefying, thanks to 

 the solvent dribbled by the teeming vermin. 

 The earthenware dish becomes a porringer 

 full of cadaveric fluid whence the reptile's 

 backbone emerges spiral-wise. The scaly 

 sheath swells up and throbs in gentle undula- 

 tions, as though an internal tide were lifting 

 the skin with its ebb and flow. Gangs of 

 workers pass to and fro between skin and 

 muscle, seeking a suitable spot for their ac- 

 tivities. A few of them show themselves 



35 



