656 



THE AOBICULTUEAL JOURNAL. 



chain harrow. He prefers the second size. 

 McCormack's Daisy self-delivery reaper 

 he also spoke of very highly. He got his 

 from Messrs. North & t-ous, Durban, the 

 price being £25. It cuts forage beauti- 

 fully, and with it he can easily get 

 through eight or nine acres a day. About 

 the Caujbridge roller he was enthuiastic : 

 " I don't know how I managed before 1 

 got it. Every farmer ought to have one. 



The price charged for it, however, is, I 

 think, unduly high." 



Were the subject not too personal I 

 should like to write something about the 

 exceptionally beautiful flower garden, the 

 fancy pigeons, the large aviary, and other 

 common adjuncts of the farm which go so 

 far to account for the attractions of country 

 life. 



Maggot Fly s iWyiasis. 



AUCHMEROYIA {BENQALIA) DEPRESSA, WALKER. 

 By Claude Fuller, Gorernment Entomologist. 



COA ST readers will, perhaps, be inter- 

 ested to learn that the human parasite so 

 well known by the above distasteful title 

 has made an early appearance this spring, 

 authentic specimens having been sent to 

 me by Stock Inspector W. C. Robbins 

 from Umhlali during November. 



I have not previously discueed this par- 

 ticular pest in these pages, chiefly because 

 there are so many points to be cleared up 

 with regard to its natural history, that 

 one could not feel satisfied to give an 

 account of the insect without elucidating 

 some of these. It now, however, appears 

 the wiser course to make some mention 

 of the fly, in order that those who have 

 the opportunity of observing it and its 

 habits will do so more critically than 

 hitherto, and really try to discover the 

 truth without taking anything for granted. 



The pest, which we call the "maggot 

 fly," belongs to a group of two-winged 

 flies known as the ^arcojyhagidce, the 

 members of which are more commonly 

 spoken of as " flesh flies," because the 

 eggs are laid upon dead animal matter, 

 and the young or maggots feed therein. 



Many of the tSarcojjhagidce are vivi- 

 parous, that is, the young are born in an 

 active state, the eggs being hatched in the 

 maternal abdomen; a well-known in- 

 stance of this is the common blow-fly, 

 which, in a general way, resembles the 

 maggot fly, though not belonging to the 

 same sub-family. 



Some of the iSarcophagidce are parasitic 

 in their younger stages upon locusts and 

 other noxious insects, the eggs being de- 

 posited upon the bodies of these hosts 



and the young larvae eating into the tissues 

 through one of the joints between the 

 segments. These larvae or maggots feed 

 upon the internal tissue of the locust and 

 so destroy it . They are, therefore, looked 

 upon as beneficial insects, and in certain 

 parts do much to keep under destructive 

 species. Another fly which also belongs 

 to this group is the adult form of the 

 "screw-worm." This species has the 

 habit of occasionally depositing its eggs 

 in the nostrils of mammals, and even 

 human beings, and the maggots which 

 hatch perforate the tender membrane, 

 causing horrible sufferings, and at times 

 death. A number of flesh flies also de- 

 posit young in wounds, and the maggots 

 develop there ; one instance of this kind 

 came under observation last year. 



The maggot fly is not restricted to Natal, 

 but it is also known further up the coast, 

 and has been recorded from Delagoa ifay, 

 and forms the subject of several notes by 

 various writers, and has been commented 

 upon in the Transactions of the South 

 African Philosophical Society by L. 

 Peringuey, the well-known Entomologist 

 at Capetown. Similar cases of Cutaneous 

 Myiasis are also recorded from the Sene- 

 gal, the fly being called the Cayor fly 

 ( Ochromyia anthropojjhaga, Blanchard). 



The specimens collected for me last 

 season were kindly determined by a 

 specialist in this respect, Mr. D. W. 

 Coquilett, of the Entomological Division 

 of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. Mr. Coquilett referred the 

 species to Auchmeroyia depressa, Walker, 



