SANITARY OFFICERS 241 



When at length it has found suitable fare it 

 proceeds with its meal leisurely, as though it held 

 that good things are not to be disposed of hurriedly, 

 but in the spirit of Milton's " Hnked sweetness long 

 drawn out." Anyway, it takes about a year of 

 this discriminate feeding to bring his diminutive 

 body to its full size, and then his skin splits down 

 the back, but is not cast off : the chrysalis remains 

 within the larva skin. The beetle that emerges is 

 smaller than the grub ; and a dozen of them placed 

 end to end would only measure about an inch. 

 Strictly speaking its colour is black, but the black 

 is masked by minute triangular scales, some brown, 

 others whitish, the latter arranged in three irregular 

 bands across the back. When it gets the notion 

 that it is advisable " to lie low " it tucks in its head 

 and legs and is to all appearance a lifeless particle 

 of refuse. 



The sanitary ofhcers that are best known to those 

 who are not entomologists are the two-winged 

 flies, especially those that make frequent calls upon 

 us in our homes. But the public as a rule fail to 

 recognize them in the character of officers for the 

 removal of nuisances, insisting that they are them- 

 selves the nuisance. Of late years one very pro- 

 minent member of this staff of sanitary officials has 

 actually been accused — and with good reason — of 

 being actively engaged in the dissemination of 

 disease germs. 



This monster — according to recent views of him 

 — is the ubiquitous House Fly (Musca domes tica), 

 16 



