32(5 DIPTERA. 
the term applied to those animals that 
produce their young in the inanimate 
form of eggs. 
The musca carnaria is supposed to 
produce a greater number of young than 
any other sort of fly ; one of them, on 
being carefully dissected, was found to 
contain twenty thousand worms. 
Lucy, How wonderfully small the 
worms must be ! Indeed it seems hardly 
possible, that so small an animal can con- 
tain such a number. 
Mother. They are not only very mi- 
nute, but they are so arranged as to oc- 
cupy an extremely small space. In the 
fly a white mass was observed, in the 
form of a flat band, like a ribbon, and 
rolled up very closely. This band was 
carefully unwound from its coil. At first 
sight it appeared as if delicately carved ; 
but when a higher magnifying power 
was applied to the microscope, this ap- 
pearance was found to have been caused 
by the young maggots, which were placed 
beside each other in parallel rows along 
