88 
WARBLE FLY. 
Surgeon, British Guiana, he informed me that he had seen a case as 
follows:—A black soldier of the 1st West Indian Regiment presented 
himself, complaining of a sort of large boil, with hard edges, on the 
front of his throat, which had broken and would not heal up, and that 
the itching round it at times was intense. On investigation the end of a 
maggot was seen in the sore, and the patient was found to have 
several of these boil-like swellings, one on the back of the neck, and 
others about the body. These other swellings at the time had only 
small openings, through which the creature protruded one extremity. 
Mr. Macadam remarked:—“ I treated the case by simply excluding 
the air from the creatures. I placed a piece of sticking-plaster over 
the larger one, and painted over the smaller ones with collodium only, 
and, after the lapse of three or four hours, the creatures were squeezed 
out dead with but little difficulty. I removed five or six of the 
creatures, . . . the largest about three-quarters of an inch in length, 
the remainder about half an inch.” Mr. Macadam gave some sketches* 
of the shape of the maggots, and noted they reminded him much of 
cattle-bots ; and that he was informed by one of the officers of the 
1st West Indian Regiment, who had been quartered in British 
Honduras, that they were very common there, and went there by the 
name of “ Beef-worms.” 
Mr. Macadam further noted, in reply to my enquiry regarding 
pain :—“ It would appear that the man suffered but little inconvenience 
from the presence of this creature in his body further than intense itching. 
Of course certain amount of inflammation must have accompanied 
the development of the boil and hardening round it, but apparently so 
trivial as to cause but little notice till the boil suppurated, when the 
pain of an ordinary sore plus the intense itching, the only thing 
complained of, was felt.” 
From the above medical statement, which, it will be seen, is most 
carefully limited to precise report, it appears there is the “ necessary” 
pain when the boils are developing, the pain of soreness after, and 
“ an intense itching and it commends itself to all cattle owners how 
far the above, varied by an occasional sharp pain, as if the maggot 
was “screwing itself round in the hole,” can benefit the infested 
animals. 
The above communication is given at length, as, besides the infor¬ 
mation regarding pain and annoyance, it certainly is a confirmation of 
* The sketch of the form of the maggots, taken together with the description 
sent, corresponded very exactly with the figure of the larva of one of the Derma- 
tobia, of which the fly is unknown, given in ‘Monographic der CEstriden,’ by 
Friedrich Brauer, plate x., fig. 3. The prolonged shape of the extremity into a 
tail-like appearance is very peculiar, and the creature appears to bear a strong 
resemblance to the well-known “ Ver Macaque ” of Cayenne. 
