196 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1917. 



13, G) attach to a fold at the lower end of the body ; the curled 

 body then leans back as far as possible (Fig. 13, C) ; the jaws 

 suddenly loosen their hold and finally the larva springs into the 

 air. Often the maggot arches its body but may experience diffi- 

 culty in attaching its jaws to the fold ; the larva may then fall 

 over on its side, and although the body is straightened out sud- 

 denly, it dpes not raise from the substratum. Instead of falling 

 on its side, the maggot may topple on its back, and in this case, 

 the larva immediately rights itself. 



The maximum height of the jump is 2^/^ inches and the 

 maximum distance 6 inches. Fifteen different larvae jumped 

 the following distance; 1, 1^^, 2, 2, 2)^, ly^, 2>4, 2>4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 

 3^, 4 and 6 inches, or an average of 2.8 inches. 



An experiment was performed to determine the effect of a 

 wet and dry substratum on the jumping reaction. Soil could 

 not be used, for many of the maggots would burrow into the 

 ground, and hence filter paper was employed instead. A dozen 

 mature larvae were placed on wet filter paper and another dozen 

 on dry filter paper. The number of jumps during five minutes 

 were as follows : wet filter paper 22, dry filter paper 8. This 

 experiment was repeated with the same number of different mag- 

 gots with the following results : wet filter paper 6, dry filter paper 

 4. 



The above experiment was repeated, but after a record was 

 taken of the number of jumps during five minutes, the 12 larvae 

 on the wet filter paper were transferred to the dry and vica versa. 

 The following figures indicate the results : wet filter paper 26, 

 dry filter paper 5 ; transferred from wet to dry filter paper 0, 

 from dry to wet filter paper 12. This experiment was repeated 

 with the same number of different maggots with the following 

 results : wet filter paper 16, dry filter paper 3 ; transferred from 

 wet to dry filter paper 0, from dry to wet filter paper 14. 



It is evident that a wet substratum such as was used in these 

 experiments increased the number of jumps of the larvae. Mally 

 (1904, p. 10) of South Africa, noticed that when a Mediterranean 

 fruit fly larva jumped out of a collecting box and struck the 

 ground at a temperature of 142° F., the maggot began to jump 

 at a lively rate and in five minutes it was dead. 



