CHAPTER III 



THE BEADED TROX 



" I 'HE Fly has deserved well of hygiene. 

 - The first to come to the dead Mole, 

 she left behind her a garrison of scavengers 

 which, without dissecting-instruments, 

 whether lancets or scalpels, set to work upon 

 the corpse. The most urgent matter was 

 to sterilize the carcase, to extract from it 

 such substances as are readily corrupted, the 

 source of rapid and dangerous putrescence. 

 And this is what the maggot has been doing. 

 From its pointed mouth, for ever poking 

 and rummaging, it dribbled forth a solvent 

 as effective as any in my laboratory; with 

 this reagent it dissolved the flesh and vis- 

 cera, or at least reduced them to a thick 

 liquid broth. Gradually the soil is saturated 

 with the fertilizing moisture, which the 

 plant will soon restore to the laboratory of 

 living chemistry. 



When her mission is completed, the Fly 

 herself becomes a danger, because of her ex- 

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