SUPPLEMENT 725 



were said to have been expelled, during violent sneezing, from the 

 nose of a peasant woman who had suffered for six months from 

 continuous frontal headache and chronic nasal catarrh. 



The Oestrides prefer to use the surfaces of wounds on the skin of 

 man to lay their eggs, which develop into larvae ; but they often use 

 their ovipositors 1 to make a fresh wound. In this case there arise in 

 the skin, and particularly in the subcutaneous connective tissue of the 

 neck, in the region of the shoulder, as well as in other parts of the 

 body painful, furuncle-like inflammations which are known under 

 the name of gad-fly boils. These boils may become the size of pigeons' 

 eggs ; if several are together, they appear to form a connected tumour. 

 Each tumour is elastic and somewhat movable, and has an orifice 

 through which the larva breathes and discharges its excreta. At 

 times these turn to festers and gangrenous disintegrations, which may 

 even cause the loss of a limb. Wilms 2 had the opportunity a few 

 years ago of observing a case of myiasis dermatosa oestrosa in Leipzig. 

 The fistula which led to the larva was slit open and the larva extracted. 

 As a notable characteristic of myiasis oestrosa Joseph states that the 

 larvae grow very slowly. The flight time of the Oestridcc is the hot 

 summer months. 



Adams 3 observed on the Isthmus of Panama a number of cases 

 of a skin disease which is caused by the larvae of Dermatobia noxialis 

 (Gnsano-pcludo-Miiche}. The larvae penetrate not only the skin but 

 also the mucous membrane of the pharynx and larynx, and from there 

 proceed through the tissue to the subcutaneous cellular tissue. The 

 infection seems to result from bathing. 



The study of " thimni," a human myiasis caused by Oestrus ovis, 

 by Ed. and Et. Sergent, 4 deals more with the zoology and with the 

 geographical distribution of this insect in North Africa than with the 

 clinical appearances of myiasis. [This paper deals with matters of 

 great interest, with important facts. F. V. T.] 



The treatment consists in the removal of the larvae (from the 

 nose) ; in Brazil it is the custom to drop tobacco juice into the 

 boil in order to kill the larvae (Strauch 5 ). 



One is only justified in speaking of myiasis intestinalis when there 

 is no doubt that living fly maggots or flies themselves can be proved 

 to have been found in the fresh contents of the stomach or intestine 



1 [The O. strides appear to lay their ova on the hair of animals. They do not puncture 

 the skin. F. V. T.] 



2 Wilms, Deulsch. wed. Wochemchr., 1897. 



3 Adams, [ourn. Amer. Med. Asscc., 1904. 



4 Ed. and Et. Sergent, AnnaL de Flnst. Pasteur, 1907. 



5 Strauch, /<wr//. of Cut. Dis., 1906. 



