CHAPTER XIV 



THE BLUEBOTTLE: THE LAYING 



r F" , PURGE the earth of death's impurities 

 and cause deceased animal matter to be 

 once more numbered among the treasures of 

 life there are hosts of sausage-queens, includ- 

 ing, in our part of the world, the Bluebottle 

 (Calliphora vomit aria, LlN.) and the 

 Chequered Flesh-fly (Sarcophaga carnaria, 

 Lin.). Every one knows the first, the big, 

 dark-blue Fly who, after effecting her designs 

 in the ill-watched meat-safe, settles on our 

 window-panes and keeps up a solemn buzzing, 

 anxious to be off in the sun and ripen a fresh 

 emission of germs. How does she lay her 

 eggs, the origin of the loathsome maggot that 

 battens poisonously on our provisions, whe- 

 ther of game or butcher's meat? What are her 

 stratagems and how can we foil them? This is 

 what I propose to investigate. 



The Bluebottle frequents our homes during 

 autumn and a part of winter, until the cold 

 becomes severe; but her appearance in the 

 fields dates back much earlier. On the first 



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