December 13, 1894] 



NATURE 



'50 



maggot rests in the sore, and presently assumes a more 

 pear-shaped form. 



When about one-third grown, agreat change takes place 

 in the structure of the creature, which, while it was forcing 

 its passage, was " little more than a bag of fluid, with a 

 large proportion of the space occupied by brcathing-tiibes." 

 At this stage, however, " the hard tips necessary, or at 

 least serviceable for forcing a passage up the hide, are 

 no longer needed, and they are exchanged for a broad form 

 of spiracle, and the internal organs become suited to pro- 

 vide material for the development of the fly, which will 

 presently form in the dry husk of the maggot, which 

 serves as the chrysalis-case." 



The further development of the maggot is so well 

 known that we scarcely need trace its course until 

 it reaches its final shape of a hairy two-winged 

 fly, not very unlike a small humble-bee in general 

 appearance, nor need we go into the elaborate accounts 

 of the enormous loss which is frequently caused by it 

 to all persons interested in living or dead cattle. The fly 



Fig. I- — Hypoderjtta bovls. i, egg: 2, maggot; 3 and 4, chrysalis-case; 

 3 and 5 natural size, after Bruey Clark ;Jthe other figures, af'ter Brauer, and 



appears to be found in most parts of the world, but is 

 a much greater pest in some countries than in others ; 

 and it is worthy of notice that, while goats appear to suffer 

 from the warble as much or more than cattle, horses 

 seem never to be attacked by it. 



Miss Ormerod, however, gives several easy, harmless, 

 and efficacious methods by which the mischief may be 

 abated or removed ; and the fly appears to be sluggish, 

 and not to stray far from where it lived as a maggot, for 

 after a few years' careful destruction of the maggots, the 

 pest seems to disappear, without the farm being liable to 

 fresh incursions from surrounding farms where similar 

 precautions have not been taken to exterminate the 

 maggots. Miss Ormerod has evidently done her best 

 to show the farmers how they may be^t exterminate the 

 pest ; and if they do not avail themselves of the in- 

 formation which she has been at so much trouble to 

 collect and to disseminate, it will not be her fault. The 

 accompanying illustration is from her useful pamphlet. 



W. K. KIKBY. 



FERDINAND DE LESS EPS. 



n"'HE death of M. de Lesseps, on Friday last, removes 

 *■ from the world one of its more prominent men. 

 To say that it was his indefatigable energy which 

 brought to a successful termination the scheme to pierce 

 the Isthmus of Suez, is but to repeat what is known to 

 every schoolboy. With the affairs that during the last 

 two years have obscured his fame to the political eye we 

 have nothing to do. The work which earned for him the 



NO. 1311, VOL. 5 I ] 



title of" Le Grand Franqais " is sufficient to command 

 the admiration of every man of science. The appre- 

 ciative obituary notice in the Times, running into 

 nearly four columns, deals largely with de Lesseps' 

 diplomatic career, but this does not concern us. We 

 are indebted to the notice, however, for some of the 

 following particulars of interest to our readers. 



Ferdinand de Lesseps was born at \ersailles, Novem- 

 ber 19, 1S05. His early public life was spent in the 

 diplomatic service, for which he manifested the same 

 predilections as his ancestors. 15ut so far back as 1S41, 

 the project for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez had 

 occurred to him. It was not until 1S54, however, that 

 he first revealed the scheme that will be most lastingly 

 associated with his name. Two years later. Said Pasha, 

 the Viceroy of Egypt, granted him a formal letter of 

 concession. In the same year de Lesseps published a 

 clear and definite exposition of his views in his pamphlet 

 " Percement de I'isthme de Suez. Expose et docu- 

 ments officiels." Many eminent engineers questioned 

 the practicability of the scheme ; neverthe- 

 less a capital of two millions of francs was 

 subscribed, and in 1S59 the works were 

 commenced. 



Difficulties and disputes of a most serious 

 character cropped up from time to time, 

 but they were overcome, with the result that 

 a canal, having sufficient water to admit of 

 the passage of steamboats, was opened on 

 August 15, 1865. The channel was widened 

 and deepened by special machinery, and in 

 March, 1867, small ships were able to make 

 use of the Canal. The waters of the Medi- 

 terranean mingled with those of the Red 

 Sea in the Bitter Lakes on .August 15, 1S69, 

 and the event was commemorated by grand 

 fcles at Suez. On November 20 following, 

 the Canal was form illy opened at Port Said 

 amid a series of brilliant festivities. The 

 Canal is about 100 miles long, with a bottom 

 width of upwards of 200 feet, and a depth of 

 28 or 29 feet. 



Honours poured in upon M. de Lesseps after the suc- 

 cessful opening of the Canal. In February, iS/O, the 

 Geographical Society of Paris awarded him the Em- 

 press's neiv prize of 10,000 francs. He gave it as a 

 contribution to the Society's projected expedition to 

 Equatorial Africa. He was appointed to the rank of 

 Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, and received the 

 cordon of the Italian Order of St. Maurice. The 

 honorary freedom of the City of London was presented 

 to him, and Queen \'ictoria created him an honorary 

 Knight Grand Commander of the iJrder of the Star of 

 India. In July, 1873, the Paris .Academy of Sciences 

 elected M. de Lesseps a member, in the place of the late 

 M. de \'erneuil. In 1875 he published his " Lettres, 

 Journal, et Documents pour servir a I'Histoire du Canal 

 de Suez." For this work the French .\cademy awarded 

 to him the Marcelin Gmirin prize of 5000 francs. In 

 June, 1 88 1, he was elected President of the French 

 Geographical Society, in the place of Admiral de la 

 Roncitre-le-Noury. The Broad Riband of the Persian 

 Order of the Lion and the Sun was presented to him 

 in 18S3. 



M. de Lesseps promoted the project of the Corinth 

 Canal, and made a journey in Algeria and Tunis to study 

 the scheme of Commandant Rondaire for the creation of 

 an inland sea in Africa — a scheme of which he formed a 

 favourable opinion. Gradually, however, he became 

 wholly absorbed in the undertaking which was to prove 

 his ruin — the Panama Canal. All the world knows how 

 this ended. .After the humiliating drama had been played 

 out at the beginning of last year, the central figure s unk 



nd 6, fly; 

 la^inified. 



