474 LARVAE OF BLAPS MORTISAGA IN THE HORSE. 
Considering the character of the maggot, and assuming 
the case to be a genuine instance of intestinal parasitism, it 
is easy to understand how the presence of even a very few of 
the larvae would be sufficient to excite irritation and con¬ 
sequent symptoms of the reflex kind. Had there been 
numerous maggots present, the restlessness might have 
become tetanic, convulsive, and incontrollable. At all 
events, less formidable-looking parasites have been known 
to bring about these results, both in human and equine 
hosts. 
If it be asked how such parasites could possibly gain 
access to the stomach and intestines of solipeds, the answer 
is not far to seek. The earth-eating habits of horses, 
elephants, and. other quadrupeds (suffering from intestinal 
irritation) has already been dealt with by myself in former 
issues of the Veterinarian, and I cannot now enlarge upon it 
further than to say that, in the present instance, it is 
probable that mere foul feeding or bad forage supply has 
been sufficient to account for the introduction of the maggots 
in question. In my new treatise on Parasites I have 
referred to this subject in connection with the entozoa of 
man; and, since this work has not yet found its way into 
the hands of many members of the veterinary profession, I 
cannot better explain the general habits of the churchyard 
beetle-maggot than by reproducing, with verbal altera¬ 
tions and additions, the very condensed summary of facts 
which I have there put forward. 
Apart from cases recorded abroad, probably not less than 
half a dozen instances of the occurrence of the larvae of 
j Blaps mortisaga in human patients have been noticed in the 
United Kingdom. The Rev. J. F. Hope’s ‘Catalogue* (quoted 
at length in my introductory treatise on the entozoa, p. 416) 
gives three examples. Sir John Rose Cormack published a 
fourth case (in 1841), and I gave details of a fifth case in the 
British Medical Journal comparatively recently (1877). 
The case by Crumpe (1800), if referable to this species, will 
make up the sixth. In the above-quoted instance brought 
under my own observation I received a single living larva 
from Dr. Horne, of Barnsley, who procured it from an infant 
eleven weeks old. In the far more remarkable instance of 
the Irish girl, Mary Riordan, the patient not only passed per 
anum upwards of 1200 larvae, but also several perfect insects. 
The case was reported by Pickells, Thomson, and Belling¬ 
ham. One of the other authentic cases, in which onlv a few 
larvae were present, was recorded by Patterson, of Belfast, 
and the third by Bateman. I may mention that Hope’s 
