A Parasite of the Maggot 



mains of the dead maggot converted into 

 black rottenness. The grub, therefore, has 

 undergone inoculation by the virus through the 

 fine openings effected by the Chalcidid. The 

 skin has had time to harden into a shell; but it 

 was too late, the tissues being already infected. 



There you see it: in its broth of putrefac- 

 tion, the worm is exposed to grave dangers. 

 Now there is a need for maggots in this world, 

 for maggots many and voracious, to purge the 

 soil as quickly as possible of death's impurities. 

 Linnaeus tells us that 'Tres musca consumunt 

 cadaver equ'i a que cito ac leo.' 1 There is no 

 exaggeration about the statement. Yes, of a 

 certainty, the offspring of the Flesh-fly and the 

 Bluebottle are expeditious workers. They 

 swarm in a heap, always seeking, always snuf- 

 fling with their pointed mouths. In those tu- 

 multuous crowds, mutual scratches would be 

 inevitable if the worms, like the other flesh-eat- 

 ers, possessed mandibles, jaws, clippers 

 adapted for cutting, tearing and chopping; 

 and those scratches, poisoned by the dreadful 

 gruel lapping them, would all be fatal. 



How are the worms protected in their hor- 

 rible work-yard ? They do not eat : they drink 



^'Three Flies consume the carcass of a Horse as 

 quickly as a Lion could do it." 



385 



