The Flesh-Flies 



and adjoining States. The fly lays its eggs on any spot where 

 the skin has been injured either from a scratch by a barbed-wire 

 fence or the puncture of a thorn. The raw or slightly bloody 

 surface attracts the flies which lay their eggs and the larvae live 

 in the flesh, making a large sore. The fly does not confine its 



attacks to domestic 

 animals but also fre- 

 quently attacks man. 

 The most common 

 cases are those where 

 the fly has laid its eggs 

 in the nostrils of some 

 one, generally some 

 person with a bad ca- 

 tarrhal trouble. The 

 eggs hatch and the 

 larvae work their way 

 through the upper nos- 

 trils and destroy the 

 tissues. The soft pal- 

 ate is frequently entirely 

 destroyed and fatal 

 cases in men are not 

 rare. The remedy is 

 to syringe out the nasal passages with diluted carbolic acid. This 

 insect also in its larval stage feeds on carrion. Another well 

 known flesh-fly is Lucilia ccesar, generally known as the green- 

 bottle fly, which is sometimes driven into houses on the approach 

 of a storm. The large blue-bottle fly of rather dull color with 

 black spines on the thorax is known as Calliphora erythrocephala. 

 This is the common ' 'blow-fly" of Europe and is the species treated 

 by Lowne in his classic "Anatomy of the Blow-Fly." Its larvae are 

 indistinguishable from those of the preceding species except in 

 size and they are to be found on meat and dead animals. Riley 

 states also that it destroys the Rocky Mountain locust or western 

 grasshopper. The flies of the true genus Sarcophaga are very 

 general scavengers, feeding, however, upon animal matter practi- 

 cally exclusively. The common flesh-fly of Europe Sarcophaga 

 carnaria does not seem to occur in this country but we have a 

 closely allied species, 5. sarracenice, which has been reared from 



164 



Fig. 91. Calliphora erythrocephala. 

 (Author's illustration.) 



