MAR^'ELS OF METAMORPHOSIS 



821 



THIS IS THE FLY THAT LAID THE EGG, THAT PRODUCED THE KILLER, THAT LIVED 

 THE LIFE THAT THE CAMERA CAUGHT 

 Exhibit B in ttie dual mystery is "Smithi" (Ocnaea smithi), the villain in "The Case of the Cello- 

 phane Sheath" (page 826). Like an insect warplane, the adult female of this fly cruises over the 

 countryside firing burst after burst of microscopic eggs. When the tiny larvae hatch out on the 

 ground, many of them miraculously find their way into nests of trapdoor spiders. 



A BATTALION OF MINUTE SMITHI LARVAE BURROW INTO A SPIDEr's LEG 

 The author discovered that the crawling marauders descended the clay tube to bore into the 

 host, tightly sealed in her home. Thev easilv made their way down through the crevices around 

 the trapdoor and even through the silken mesh of the seal. In this laboratory experiment so many 

 larvae were present that they attacked the spider's legs as well as the abdomen. 



