AFRICAN SKIN MAGGOT 



517 



actly where the fly deposits its eggs or newly hatched maggots is 

 not quite certain. According to some observations the living 

 larvae are deposited directly on the skin and immediately bore 

 their way in, while according to others the eggs or young larvae 

 are laid on the hair, on clothing which has been hung out, on 

 soiled bed-clothes of children, etc. There is good reason to 

 believe that the fly when about to lay eggs is attracted by fresh 

 animal smells, such as perspiration, fresh excrement, etc., when 

 these occur on the skin or on fabrics. The heads of infants, 

 especially if not kept perfectly clean, are favorite places for the 

 flies to deposit their offspring, and cases are on 

 record in which 20 or 30 maggots were taken 

 from the scalp of a child under six months old. 

 Woolen clothing, if smelling of perspiration, 

 is almost sure to become infested with the 

 maggots when hung out in an exposed place, 

 and it is dangerous to put on such clothing 

 where the fly is abundant. Roubaud, in ex- 

 periments with this fly, induced a specimen to 

 lay 150 eggs on the walls of a glass vessel and 

 on rotten fruit, and obtained infestation of a 

 guinea-pig with 15 larvae hatched apart from 

 the host. That in some cases, at least, the eggs 

 hatch before being deposited is evident from 

 the fact that living maggots can sometimes be 

 squeezed out of the bodies of the flies, and it is , ^^"^ ^^S- African 



^ ' skin maggot, Cordy- 



quite probable that the fly normally produces lohia anthropophaga, 

 living young. The maggots are usually most ^°J^^^ Bra^mpt.)^ ^' 

 abundant in the southern summer (January to 

 March), especially in March. It is probable that there are not 

 more than two or three generations a year, all of them during the 

 summer, the rest of the year being spent in the adult stage. 



The maggots (Fig. 249) are said to bore into the skin rapidly 

 with active flapping movements and without causing any pain. 

 As pointed out by Fuller it would endanger the life of the species 

 if in entering the skin it excited its victim to dislodge it. Even 

 if, as is probably often the case, the larva enters the skin during 

 sleep, unless quite painless the host would probably wake and 

 scratch it out, especially in the case of wild animals which must 

 always sleep with an ear and an eye open, so to speak. As many 



