8o NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



GEORGIAN FLESH FLY 

 Sarcopliaga georgina W'ied. 



A number of this large, grayish, yellowish or red-tailed flesh fly 

 were reared in association with P h o r m i a r e g i n a Meign. and 

 provisionally identified by ^ir C. \\ . Johnson of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History. 



One of the earliest notices of this form is by Harris, who char- 

 acterizes the species as one of our largest viviparous flesh flies 

 which appears toward the end of June and continues till the middle 

 of August or perhaps later. It has been recorded by the late 

 Doctor Smith as common throughout the state of Xew Jersey and 

 is listed by Aldrich from Georgia, ^lassachusetts and British 

 America. It has been reported as parasitic by Prof. C. M. A\^eb- 

 ster on grasshoppers in \\'yoming. The record states that the mag- 

 gots of this species were abundant in a mass of '" dead disintegrat- 

 ing and decaying bodies "' of ]\I e 1 a n o p 1 u s d i f f e r e n t i a 1 i s 

 Thos. 



The discussion of methods and conditions under Phormia apply 

 equally well to this species, except that the presence of the larvae 

 were not observed till considerably later and manifestly when con- 

 ditions were quite difl:"erent. 



Biology. On August I2th. a time when the disintegration of the 

 carrion was in an advanced condition, a very few small, and at 

 that time supposed to be first stage maggots, were observed on the 

 calf's head in association with full-grown Phormia larvae. The fol- 

 lowing day it was noticed that there was a fairly good colony of 

 Sarcophagid larvae clustering as before and evidently the product 

 of a recent and presumably accidental ovi or larviposition. The 

 next day, August 14th, most of these young larvae were small 

 though a few appeared to be in the second stage, a transforma- 

 tion which was more marked August 15th. On the afternoon of the 

 1 6th there were many small, probably second stage maggots and 

 one very large, probably third stage maggot, the latter being more 

 abundant the following morning and on the i8th. August 19th at 

 6 p. m. nearly one hundred of these large larvae had escaped from 

 the bucket containing the carrion and had established themselves 

 just below the surface of the loose soil near a door sill where 

 there was moderate protection from light. These larvae displayed 

 a much greater activity in wandering than was the case with the 



