MUSCA DIABOLIC A. 99 



site so weakens the luckless fly that it is eventually unable 

 to exert the force requisite to detach the pads of its feet 

 from the window-pane, or other object upon which it may 

 have happened to settle. So it must, perforce, remain 

 glued to the spot while the fungus sucks up its life blood. 

 After a time the mould throws out the reproductive organs, 

 which stand out from the body of the fly like a number of 

 white hairs : it is these which produce the halo-like appear- 

 ance round the corpse of the fly. By the time this has 

 happened all the inside of the insect has been eaten up. 

 Thus you behold your former tormentor transformed into a 

 dry, lifeless, shrivelled-up mass quantum mutatus ab illo! 



