[17] 



Report of the State Entomologist. 



113 



. Evidence of the attack, if the skin be removed, may be discovered 

 on its inner or flesh side early in the winter. Within a small swelling 

 at the lower portion of the hide, the larval insect — " maggot," as it is 

 usually called — very small in size and of a blood-red color, may be 

 discovered lying free at the bottom of a 

 fine channel, shown in Fig. 4, leading down 

 to it, but not traceable to the outer sur- 

 face. • The small swellings develop into 

 " warbles," which are formed with the 

 giowth of the larva as early as in February, 

 occasioualh' in January, and may be found fig. 4— Channel made by the 

 at this time with an open passage leading ^^ warBTe larva throuerh the 

 , J, ji 1 • ■! mi 1 - 1 • hide, much enlarged. (After 



outwardly on the hide. ihe larva is white ormerod.) 



and worm-like in form and appearance. In its next stage of develop- 

 ment it is club-shaped, and in its following stage it assumes its well- 

 known shape, with its thick and prickly skin, lying within the warble 

 cell with its membranous walls.* 



Some very interesting changes take place in the pair of spiracles or 

 breathing-pores in which the abdomen of the larvaterminates, in that 

 while in their early stage they are 

 elongated and somewhat club-shape •!, 

 horny, and adapted to the boring ser- 

 vice that they have to render, later 

 they become flat and kidney-sbaped 

 disks which undergo two or three sub- 

 sequent modifications before thej^ attain 

 their final phase. 



The larva, at maturity, is shown in 



laVv'^aenra.^ed^^^g^^e.^ ^ ^.^<^ .^- We prefer to call 

 (After Verrill.) it by its scientific designation, which 



should be understood by all, rather than by the Fi«- ^--The larva 



•' ' , '' enlarged. (After 



repulsive name (from association) of "maggot," Ormerod.) 



although the latter properly belongs, in common usage, to the larva 



of a fly, as that of " grub " does to the corresponding stage of a 



beetle. 



At its full growth it is about an inch in length, oval, somewhat 



flattened, and varying in color from whitish to dark graj'. It shows 



a number of deeply incised segments (ten can easily be distinguished) 



and many rings of minute spines or prickles, which aid materially the 



*For a valuable paper on the larva of thi.s and other species of the family, see a trans- 

 lation from Friedrich Brauer's "Monographie der oestriden," Wien, 1863, contained in 

 Fsyclte, iv, 1885, pp, 305-310. 



15 



