Insects at home; being a popular account of insects, their structure, habits and transformations . Flies deposits her multi-tudinous young. It was to this species that Linnaeus referred when he wrotethe apparent paradox that three Flies could eat an ox as fast asa lion. The Fly does not even wait for decomposition, or atall events can detect incipient decomposition long before it isapparent to the human senses ; for I have often found that if arecently-killed mouse or bird be allowed to lie in any exposedplace for an hour or two, vast numbers of these tiny larvae willbe deposited upon it, the
Insects at home; being a popular account of insects, their structure, habits and transformations . Flies deposits her multi-tudinous young. It was to this species that Linnaeus referred when he wrotethe apparent paradox that three Flies could eat an ox as fast asa lion. The Fly does not even wait for decomposition, or atall events can detect incipient decomposition long before it isapparent to the human senses ; for I have often found that if arecently-killed mouse or bird be allowed to lie in any exposedplace for an hour or two, vast numbers of these tiny larvae willbe deposited upon it, the mother Fly having taken the pre-caution to place them under the wings, in the mouth, at the THE COW-DUNG FLIES. 633 junction of the legs with the body, or, if the creature be lying onthe ground, upon the surface of the body that is next to the is not the only Ply that deposits its young in thiscurious manner, but I have selected the best known species asan example of the group. On Woodcut LXXV., at Figs. 2 and 3, are shown twospecies of the well-known Dung-Flies, of which the common. 1. Musca domestica. 2. Scatophaga scybalaria. a. Scatophaga scybalaria, antenna. 3. Scatophaga Do., tongue. Cow-Du^TG Fly {Scatophctga stercoraria) is the most this genus the last joint of the antenna is rather long, thehead is spherical, and the body covered with stiff hairs. TheseFlies may always be found in fields frequented by cows, as it isupon the dung of these animals that the larvffi are fed. The most remarkable point in the economy of these insectsis the development of the e^g;. It is necessary for the due 634 INSECTS AT HOIVIE. hatching of the young that the egg should be kept in a stateof moisture as well as warmth, and this point is secured bydepositing the egg in the recent cow-dung. This, however, isnot all. If the egg becomes dry, it shrivels up and the youngmaggot is never hatched, while, if it should sink entirely,it is drowned, so to speak, t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
