270 PARASITES OF MAN 



' Catalogue ' originally appeared in the ' Transactions of the 

 Entomological Society/ being afterwards published in the pages 

 of the ' London Medical Gazette/ 1837. Patterson's case was 

 also, I believe, first communicated to the Entomological Society. 

 As regards the mode in which the maggot gained access to 

 the child in Home's case, it was not easy to decide ; but in the 

 case of the girl Riordan the mode of ingress was sufficiently 

 explained. The Blapsidte, as a family, are closely allied to the 

 meal-worms, and, like most of the Tenebrionida, are black and 

 foul-smelling beetles, frequenting dark and damp situations, 

 from which they escape only at night. The family comprises 

 numerous species, of which probably not more than three are 

 found in this country. They are abundant in Africa, especially 

 in Egypt, where (according to Fabricius, as quoted by West- 

 wood, Figuer, and others) the women eat Blaps sulcata cooked 

 with butter in order to make themelves grow fat. The insects 

 are also employed as specifics against ear-ache and the bite of the 

 scorpion. The superstitious notion of a " charm " is generally at 

 the bottom of these domestic remedies. In the girl Riordan' s case, 

 as Westwood observes (when epitomising Pickell's account), the 

 parasites, as such, " probably originated in an absurd and super- 

 stitious practice, which she had for some time followed, of drinking 

 daily for a certain time a quantity of water mixed with clay, 

 taken from the graves of two Catholic priests, and eating large 

 pieces of chalk. One of these beetles was immersed repeatedly 

 in spirits of wine, but revived after remaining therein all night, 

 and afterwards lived three years." The intolerance of light 

 shown by the perfect insect seems to be equally shared by the 

 larva. Of this fact I had repeated evidence by observing the 

 behaviour of the living specimen sent to me by Dr Home. Thus, 

 when, on February 5th, 1877, I placed the maggot on the 

 surface of some moist mould, scarcely half a minute elapsed 

 before it commenced to bore its way downwards, and in less 

 than a minute all but the tip of the tail had disappeared. In 

 like manner, when, on the 7th, I raised the lid of the box, and 

 found the maggot on the surface of the soil, it almost instantly 

 proceeded to bury itself. Hope's list records no less than nine 

 instances of parasitism in man from the larvse of Tenebrio 

 molitor, and he gives a score of other Coleopterous insects 

 which he regarded as human " intestinal worms/' Undoubt- 

 edly a large number of insect larvae do get introduced into, 

 and actually live within the human intestines. 



