124 
SHEEP-NOSTRIL MAGGOT. 
minute condition ; it appears that the existence of this breathing 
apparatus quite disproves their presence in the brain, for in it the 
breathing-pores would be as thoroughly choked up, and the maggot 
destroyed, as when in the Ox Warble-maggot the pores are choked 
with cart-grease or any other thick permanent application. 
The following are a few details from examination of Sheep-nostril 
maggots :— 
In some specimens sent me from Maulden, Ampthill, Beds., I 
found the maggot to be arched above, flattened beneath, increasing in 
size towards the head end. This head segment was much the smallest 
of all, and furnished with a pair of thick fleshy antennae placed above, 
and on each side of, the notch answering to a mouth. From this a 
pair of strong black curved mouth-hooks were frequently protruded 
and withdrawn, whilst I held the maggot in my fingers. These 
appear to be suited to act not only as hooks to drag with, but also as 
flat nippers or pincers, to pinch up any soft matter that lay between 
them, and further, at the base of each of these somewhat sickle like 
hooks, there was a kind of horny tubercle which would give additional 
help towards dragging the maggot onward. 
Beneath, it was furnished with ten narrow cross bands of prickles, 
the band nearest the head being the smallest. 
The tail segment was rounded with a slightly swollen border, and 
in the centre of the upper part are the dark brown spiracle plates, or 
breathing-pores, of a shape which might be called triangular, with the 
angles very much rounded or five-cornered (see fig.), the two sides of 
the pair of plates opposite to each other being the longest, and in the 
centre of each spiracle was a raised brown spot. 
Beneath the spiracles at the caudal extremity of the larva was such 
an enlargement that the lower part of the segment projected 
markedly, forming a central lobe turning up towards the spiracles 
and bearing a small patch of prickles, on its upper surface (see fig). 
Also it was furnished on each side with a fleshy process or tubercle 
(see fig., p. 121) apparently very useful in progression. 
The power of rapid movement was very remarkable. On placing 
one of the Nostril maggots on a cloth it moved onwards, at the rate 
of 8^- inches in the first minute, and 4J in the second, and when 
the maggot was placed on the hand the movement could be seen to 
be helped both by head and tail. The black mouth-hooks were almost 
fixed into the skin of the hand, pressed so firmly that the pressure 
could be felt, and thus served as a power by which the maggot kept 
itself in place, whilst the lobe of the tail with its pair of pseudo-feet 
served to propel the soft body on from the tail end, the maggot thus 
being able to get on at a fair pace by alternately fixing and shoving. 
When placed on glass the maggot had a power of moving by simple 
