MUSCA. 
241 
tills purpose they take ripe bananas, and 
having squeezed them through a line sieve, 
form the solid fruit into small loaves, which 
are dried in the sun or in hot ashes, after 
being previously wrapped up in the leaves ot 
Indian flowering-reed. 
3. Musa troglodytarum, has a scarlet 
-spathe and scarlet berry, but not eatable. 
MUSCA, jiy, a genus of insects of the 
order diptera. The generic character is : 
mouth formed into a lieshy proboscis, with 
two lateral lips; palpi, none. 
The vast extent of the genus musca makes 
it necessary to divide the whole into different 
assortmen.s, in order to the more ready in- 
vestigation of the species. These divisions 
are instituted from the form of the antennae, 
which are either simple (without any lateral 
hair or plume), or armed (that is, furnished 
with a lateral hair or plume). These divi- 
sions are farther separated into others, ac- 
cording to the more or less downy or hairy 
appearance of the insects. 
The first section of this genus comprehends 
such flies as have simple antennae. 
The larvae, in the different tribes of flies, 
differ fair more in habit than the complete in- 
sects, some being terrestrial, and others aqua- 
tic. Those of the more common kinds are 
emphatically distinguished by the title of 
maggots, and spring from eggs deposited on 
various putrid substances. Several of the 
aquatic kinds are of singularly curious forma- 
tion, and exhibit wonderful examples of the 
provision ordained by nature for the preser- 
vation of even the meanest anal most seem- 
ingly coi teroptible ot animals. Several are 
inhabitants of plants, feeding during this state 
on other iving insects. 
The general form of the chrysalis or pupa 
is that o’ an oval, differently modified, ac- 
cording to the species, and formed by the ex- 
ternal skin of the larva, which hardens round 
the chrysalis. Some species, however, cast 
theii' skin before their change into the pupa 
state. 
In this division one of the most remarkable 
species is the musca chameleon, which is a 
large , black fly, with a broad flatfish abdo- 
men, having the sides of each segment yel- 
low, Coming so many abrupt semibaods 
across tint part. It proceeds irom an aqua- 
tic larva, of very considerable size, measuring 
two inches and a halt in length, of a some- 
what fllafened shape, and of a brown colour, 
with & rarrow or slender front, the body 
widening by degrees towards the middle, and 
from theice gradually tapering to the extre- 
mity o>r ail, which is terminated by a circle 
of radiiatng or diverging hairs, 'i bis larva 
is corn nun in stagnant waters during the sum- 
mer nioitlrs, and passes into its chrysalis state 
without casting its skin, which dries over it, 
so as tro ^reserve the former appearance ot 
the an inul in a more contracted state. 
In this division also stands the musca ver- 
mileo* a middle-sized fly, of a somewhat 
lengthen'd form, with a distant resemblance 
toatipua. It is of a dull yellow colour, 
with tiraisparent wings ; the thorax marked 
above b T two black lines, and the abdomen 
by a triple series of black spots. The larva 
of tins sjecies measures above three quarters 
of an iinci in length, and is of a pale yellovv- 
ish-griey valour, slender or sharpened in front, 
and proving gradually broader towards the 
Vox. I. 
tail. It is found in the southern parts of Eu- 
rope, and is not uncommon in some districts 
of France, and is remarkable for practising a 
method exactly similar to that of the heme- 
robius formicaleo in order to obtain its prey ; 
excavating a circular pit or cavity in the dry 
sand, concealing itself beneath the centre, 
and thus waiting the arrival of any small in- 
sect which may happen to fall into it, and 
after absorbing its juices, throwing out the 
exhausted remains to a considerable distance 
from the verge of the cavity. This larva 
seems to have been first observed and de- 
scribed by Rehumur, in the Memoirs of the 
French Academy for the year 1752. It as- 
sumes the state of a chrysalis by casting its 
skin, which rolls to the hinder part of the 
body: the chrysalis is of a dull reddish co- 
lour, and is rounded or clubbed at the upper 
part, suddenly tapering from thence to the 
extremity, and after lying nine or ten .days, 
gives birth to the included insect. 
Of the downy or slightly haired flies with 
bristled antennae, one of the most remark- 
able is the musca fenax, which is about the 
size of a drone, and of a brown colour, with 
transparent wings, and the first segment of 
the abdomen yellowish on each side. It pro- 
ceeds from a larva of a very singular appear- 
ance, being a long-tailed brown maggot, of 
rather slow motion, measuring about three 
quarters of an inch in length, exclusive of the 
tail, which is extensile, and consists of a 
double tube, the exterior annulated into nu- 
merous segments, and the interior slender, 
and terminated by a circle of hairs, surround- 
ing a spiraculum or air-hole. This maggot 
is seen in muddy stagnant waters, drains, and 
other places of the dirtiest description ; and 
notwithstanding its unpleasing appearance, 
exhibits, when accurately examined, many 
particulars well worthy of admiration. T he 
feet in particular, which are seven in number 
on each side, are wonderfully calculated for 
enabling the animal to ascend walls or other 
perpendicular places, in order to seek some 
proper situation in which it may undergo its 
change into chrysalis, being very broad, and 
beset on their under surface with numerous- 
small hooked claws, giving it the power of 
clinging with security during its ascent. 
Of this larva a particularity is stated on 
the authority of Linnaeus, which, it true, may 
indeed well be numbered among the Mira- 
cula Insectorum (the title ot the paper in the 
Amoenitates Academics, in which it is an- 
nounced), viz. that being a frequent inhabi- 
tant of the turbid pulp used in the operation 
of paper-making, it is often exposed to the 
action of the wooden mallets used in the pro- 
cess, as well as squeezed in the strongest 
presses, and yet survives uninjured these 
seemingly destructive operations ! ! ! 
The above larva commonly changes to a 
chrysalis about the end ot August, the skin 
contracting and drying round the body, and 
the tail continuing in a shrivelled state. After 
thus remaining about the space of a fortnight, 
it gives birth to the complete insect, which 
has so much the general appearance of a 
drone, that it is very frequently mistaken tor 
such. It is extremely common during the 
month of September. 
Musca peudula, which belongs also to this 
division of the genus, is a moderately large 
and very beautiful insect. Its colour is 
black, with four bright yellow stripes down 
flh 
the thorax, and three broad interrupted bars 
across the abdomen ; or, in other words, this 
fly might be described as of a blight yeitow 
colour, with the thorax marked by tour lon- 
gitudinal black lines, and the abdomen by 
three transverse ones, connected by a black 
stripe down the middle. Its larva, which is 
an inhabitant of stagnant waters, is ot a still 
more remarkable appearance than that ot the 
immediately preceding species, which it re- 
sembles in size, but is of a paler colour, and 
furnished with a tail of greater length, com- 
posed of a double tube, the interio: ot which 
is very slender, extensile at the pleasure of 
the animal to a vast length, and terminated 
by a very small spiracle. The length of this 
tube is therefore varied according to the 
greater or smaller depth at which the insect 
chooses to continue, the tip reaching to the 
surface, in order to supply the requisite quan- 
tity of air. Sometimes great numbers ot 
these maggots are found coiled or twisted to- 
gether by tiieir tails in such a manner that it 
is by no means easy to separate any one irom 
the rest. The chrysalis resembles that oi the 
musca tenax, the remains ot the tail being 
visible in a dried and contracted state. 1 he 
complete insect is frequently seen on bowers 
during the autumnal season. 
Among the hairy or bristly flies with 
plumed antennas stands the well-known spe- 
cies called musca camaria, or the common 
large blow-fly. This, as every one knows, 
deposits its eggs on animal flesh, either tresh 
or putrid. The larvae or maggots hatch in 
about the space of a few hours, and when full- 
grown, which happens in eight or ten days, 
are of a white or yellowish- white colour with 
a slight tinge of pale-red, and ot a lengthened 
shape, with a sharpened front, in which the 
mouth is situated, and from whence the body 
gradually enlarges in size to the last or ter- 
minal segment, which is of a very broad 
and flattened form, surrounded by several 
slightly prominent tips, and furnished with a 
pair of dusky specks resembling eyes; so 
that an inaccurate spectator might easily 
mistake this part for the head, and the proper 
head for the tail. When the animal changes 
to a chrysalis, the skin dries round it, and the 
whole assumes a completely oval form, and a 
reddish colour, scon changing into a reddish- 
brown. In ten days more the fly itself 
emerges, which is too well known to require 
particular description. 
Musca vivipara greatly resembles the pre- 
ceding, and is found in similiar situations, but 
is viviparous, disclosing sn\all ready-formed 
larva: instead of eggs, which in this species 
are hatched internally. This particularity is 
not confined to the present species, but has 
been observed in some others of this genus. 
To this as well as the preceding has been 
applied the observation, Tres muscce consu-r 
mu fit cadaver equi ccque citb ac leo; the 
number of larvae proceeding from the flies, 
and the quick evolution of the successive 
broods, destroying the same quantity of flesh 
in a given time as the predacious quadruped, 
who devours a great quantity at certain in- 
tervals only, while the process of destruction 
continues with unremitted perseverance on 
the part of one or other of the respective 
races of flies. 
Of the hair-flies with bristled antemre, the 
musca grossa, the largest of European flies,) 
affords a good example. 
