vi] LARVAE AND THEIR ADAPTATIONS 71 



Turning now to the maggot, characteristic of the 

 House-fly section (fig. 21) of the Diptera, we see the 

 greatest contrast between the larva and the imago 

 that can be found throughout the whole class of the 

 insects. The Bluebottle's eggs, the well-known 'fly 

 blow' laid in summer time on exposed meat, not 

 unnaturally arouse feelings of disgust, yet they are 

 the prelude to one of the most marvellous of all 



Fig. 21. Maggot of House-fly (Muscadomestica), a, side-view, magni- 

 fied 5 times ; b, prothoracic spiracle ; c, feeler ; d, hind-region with 

 posterior spiracles ; e, /, head-region with mouth-hooks ; g, head- 

 region of young maggot ; h, eggs. All magnified. After Howard, 

 Entorn. Bull. 4, U.S. Dept. Agric. 



insect life-stories. The fly with its large globular 

 head, bearing the extensive compound eyes, the highly 

 modified feelers with their exquisitely feathered 

 slender sensory tips, and the complex suctorial jaws ; 

 with its compact thorax bearing the glassy fore-wings 



