226 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. vi. 



varying conditions in fifty-six of the one hundred and fifty observa- 

 tions and after periods of interment ranging from one year and eleven 

 months to eleven years and two months. The cemetery records show 

 that this particular coffin was supposed to contain the product of a 

 " Premature Birth," but it seems highly propable that the coffin was 

 sent to the cemetery, minus the cadaver, and that the latter now 

 adorns some one's embryologic collection. 



In 1890 Mr. Webster published an interesting find of Conicera sp., 

 on a two-year cadaver, in the stomach of which chemic analysis showed 

 one and one-half grains of arsenic. Commenting on this case, Mr. 

 Webster writes : ' ' That the larvae of these flies might subsist upon the 

 flesh of bodies killed by arsenic is by no means surprising, as they are, 

 doubtless, very tenacious of life. * * * That adults or larvae could 

 have made their way to the body through box and coffin, after burial, 

 seems incredible ; while that with the temperature but little above the 

 freezing point flies should have been attracted to the corpse, while the 

 latter was awaiting burial, and either deposited their eggs upon it be- 

 fore burial or have been conveyed within the coffin to the grave and 

 there begun reproduction appears at first thought almost equally im- 

 possible." 



Here, then, are raised the questions upon the answers to which 

 rest the importance and practical value of all these observations. 

 How, when and during what periods do these insects attack the human 

 cadaver ? Megnin's answers seem to have been accepted by the French 

 courts, and decisions rendered, sentences imposed in accordance there- 

 with. His work has been abstracted in a large number of journals, 

 and in several different languages ; everywhere it is labelled ''Impor- 

 tant — if true." Dominique writes a conservative review, compliment- 

 ing Megnin upon his work, at the same time suggesting that the science 

 of an entomologic chronology of cadaveric history must, of necessity, 

 be a slow growth. Here and there, however, there have been more or 

 less vigorous protests. It is significant that these protests and warn- 

 ings have come largely from the entomologists, men whose sole spe- 

 cialty is the study of the characters and life habits of these insects. 

 True, when we attempt to look up the life-history of any given insect, 

 especially one not important from an economic standpoint, we are 

 amazed at the paucity of data, even with regard to our most common 

 species. Among those who have made the life habits of beetles a 

 special study, is Major L. von Heyden, who denies Megnin's assertion 



