314 MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 



scalp full of the larvae of a species of Sarcophaga. A case of nasal 

 myiasis, in which numbers of the larvae of a species of Sarcophaga were 

 recovered by nasal douching, has been recorded by Patterson from Assam. 

 As so little is known regarding this habit among the Sarcophagidae it is 

 not possible to say whether it is one of the regular methods of reproduc- 

 tion or not. In Madras the larvae of several species are found in human 

 faeces and in the dead bodies of animals ; in the tropics food of this 

 nature is abundant everywhere. 



The flies of the genus Sarcophaga are larviparous, and Fabre, in his 

 delightful account of the habits of the Blow Fly (Calliphora erythroce- 

 phala), points out that the female S. carnaria will deposit her larvae 

 on a piece of meat from a height of twenty-six inches, thus showing that 

 the common wire dish cover or meat safe affords little or no protection, 

 for she can drop her larvae through the meshes. 



The larva of Sarcophaga is amphineustic, pointed anteriorly and round- 

 ed posteriorly ; the segments are differentiated by large transverse swell- 

 ings, each provided with a circlet of spines. The posterior stigmata 

 are concealed in a depression in the last segment, and there are promi- 

 nent bifid anal swellings. The puparium is reddish brown and ovoid in 

 shape. 



A large species of Sarcophaga in Madras is nearly always infected 

 with Herpetomonas sarcophagae, Prowazek ; according to Roubaud Sar- 

 cophaga nurus in the Congo is infected with Herpetonwnas muscae 

 domesticae, and Swingle has recorded another species of herpetomonas, 

 H. lineata, from Scrcophaga sarraceniae in North America. 



In order to breed these flies for experimental purposes some decompos- 

 ing meat should be placed in a tray in the open ; the female Sarcophaga 



is attracted to it, and when the larvae are deposited the 

 Breeding Technique 



meat should be placed in a mud enclosure (Plate XLIV, 



fig. 5) made as follows : Mud and cow dung are mixed together and 

 made into a walled enclosure one foot square and eight inches high; while 

 the mud is still moist a board is accurately fitted as a cover on the top, in 

 order to keep out stray flies. The mud is allowed to dry until it becomes 

 quite hard, and the enclosure is then ready for use. It should be built 

 on to a table so that it can be protected from ants. The meat containing 

 the larvae is placed in a small tin tray, which is then laid on sand at the 

 bottom of the enclosure. Such an enclosure can be made by most 

 natives, and is useful for breeding Muscidae. If the meat is left 

 in a tray containing some sand on a table in the laboratory the larvae 

 will crawl out of it when they migrate in order to pupate, and will 



