The Life of the Fly 



the hcaped-up eggs. They come off in great 

 slabs, free of any stain ; they can be shovelled 

 up, as it were, with a paper scoop. It is a 

 propitious moment if we wish to follow the 

 evolution at close quarters. I therefore 

 gather a profusion of this white manna and 

 lodge it in glass tubes, test-tubes and jars, 

 with the necessary provisions. 



The eggs, about a millimetre 1 long, are 

 smooth cylinders, rounded at both ends. 

 They hatch within twenty-four hours. The 

 first question that presents itself is this : how 

 do the Greenbottle-grubs feed? I know quite 

 well what to give them, but I do not in the 

 least see how they manage to consume it. Do 

 they eat, in the strict sense of the word? I 

 have reasons to doubt it. 



Let us consider the grub grown to a suffi- 

 cient size. It is the usual Fly-larva, the com- 

 mon maggot, shaped like an elongated cone, 

 pointed in front, truncated behind, where two 

 little red spots show, level with the skin : these 

 are the breathing-holes. The front, which is 

 called the head by stretching a word — for it 

 is little more than the entrance to an intes- 

 tine — the front is armed with two little black 

 hooks, which slide in a translucent sheath, pro- 



J About .039 inch. — Translator's Note. 



224 



