206 PRESERVATION OF MAGGOTS OVER WINTER. 



disgusting odour, and be much pleasanter to handle. 

 In about four days more, or six days in all from their at- 

 taining their full development, they become hard, change 

 their colour to a pale red, and soon after come forth as 

 flies. Another plan is to suspend some animal matter 

 on the branch of a tree, over a box or dish containing 

 earth or clay to receive them as they fall ; but as num- 

 bers of them fall before they attain their full growth, 

 the former is the better method for obtaining fine full- 

 sized gentles. A better plan than either, is to scarify a 

 piece of liver deeply, and suspend it on the branch of a 

 tree for three days, partially covered over with a piece 

 of cloth, retained an inch or so from its surface by 

 means of short wooden pegs stuck into it, as the flies 

 blow it more freely in this way than when entirely 

 exposed. As soon as the young maggots become alive, 

 the liver is to be transferred to an earthen pan, and 

 there allowed to remain until the first brood are of full 

 growth, when a mixture of fine sand and bran is to be 

 put into the pan, allowing the carrion still to remain ; 

 and in a few days they will leave it and retire into the 

 sand and bran mixture, and scour themselves in it. The 

 same piece of liver may then be re-suspended over the 

 pan, and a second brood will soon drop off ; and after 

 undergoing the same process, be in their turn fit for use. 

 If maggots are bred in this manner in October, and 

 are kept in a moderately warm place until they reach 

 their full growth, and be afterwards placed in a damp 

 cellar amongst fine sand or sifted earth in the pan in 

 which they were produced, they may be preserved all 



