. Animal parasites and human disease. Medical parasitology; Insects as carriers of disease. AFRICAN SKIN MAGGOT 517 actly where the fly deposits its eggs or newly hatched maggots is not quite certain. According to some observations the living larvae are deposited directly on the skin and immediately bore their way in, while according to others the eggs or young larvae are laid on the hair, on clothing which has been hung out, on soiled bed-clothes of children, etc. There is good reason to believe that the fly when about to lay eggs is attracted by fresh animal smells, such as perspiration, fre
. Animal parasites and human disease. Medical parasitology; Insects as carriers of disease. AFRICAN SKIN MAGGOT 517 actly where the fly deposits its eggs or newly hatched maggots is not quite certain. According to some observations the living larvae are deposited directly on the skin and immediately bore their way in, while according to others the eggs or young larvae are laid on the hair, on clothing which has been hung out, on soiled bed-clothes of children, etc. There is good reason to believe that the fly when about to lay eggs is attracted by fresh animal smells, such as perspiration, fresh excrement, etc., when these occur on the skin or on fabrics. The heads of infants, especially if not kept perfectly clean, are favorite places for the flies to deposit their offspring, and cases are on record in which 20 or 30 maggots were taken from the scalp of a child under six months old. Woolen clothing, if smelling of perspiration, is almost sure to become infested with the maggots when hung out in an exposed place, and it is dangerous to put on such clothing where the fly is abundant. Roubaud, in ex- periments with this fly, induced a specimen to lay 150 eggs on the walls of a glass vessel and on rotten fruit, and obtained infestation of a guinea-pig with 15 larvae hatched apart from the host. That in some cases, at least, the eggs hatch before being deposited is evident from the fact that living maggots can sometimes be squeezed out of the bodies of the flies, and it is J^f 49ot A^?n quite probable that the fly normally produces ubia antkwpophaga, living young. The maggots are usually most <?9Jfj£ B^ie^- x 6- abundant in the southern summer (January to March), especially in March. It is probable that there are not more than two or three generations a year, all of them during the summer, the rest of the year being spent in the adult stage. The maggots (Fig. 249) are said to bore into the skin rapidly with active flapping movements and without causing any pain. As
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmedical, bookyear1918
