INSECTS AND WAR 29 



In our country house-flies usually begin to 

 breed in June and July, continuing well on 

 into October if the weather be but warm. Their 

 greatest activity is, however, in the hotter month 

 of August and the beginning of September. 

 But in warm stables, restaurants, and kitchens, 

 flies are able to reproduce the whole year round. 

 A single fly will deposit at one time 100 to 150 

 eggs, and in the course of her summer life may 

 produce five, or even six, batches of ova each of 

 this size. The eggs are pearly-white, elongated 

 structures, with two converging lines, along 

 which the egg-case will ultimately split to give 

 exit to the larva. The eggs are laid a little way 

 beneath the surface of a dung-heap, by means 

 of a long ovipositor, in a position where they 

 will not readily be dried up. In favourable 

 conditions the eggs hatch in from eight to twenty- 

 four hours. 



The larvae are legless, tapering towards the 

 head, which bears a pair of breathing-holes, or 

 spiracles ; their bodies are much stouter to- 

 wards the hinder end. On the whole they are 

 white, unpleasant-looking maggots, called by 

 freshwater fishermen " gentles/' By contracting 

 and expanding their bodies they push their way 



