THE STABLE-FLY 129 



The female lays a number of. white, banana- 

 shaped eggs a few inches below the surface 

 of any decaying organic matter ; fermenting 

 grass from the lawn, decaying garden stuff, 

 stable manure — each forms a favourable nidus. 



Fig. 41. — Stomoxya calcitrans. Eggs. (After Newstead.) 



The eggs are laid in a heap like those of the 

 house-fly, each heap containing from fifty 

 to seventy. The egg is 1 mm. in length 

 and has a grooved side, through the thicker 

 end of which the larva escapes when the 

 egg-shell splits. 



The issuing larva is almost transparent. 

 It not only has no head, but the anterior 

 end dwindles almost to a point. When fully 



