Note 6 — Chapter II · SAPRINI, DERMESTES AND OTHERS

In my district, I obtain nine species of Saprini, some found under carrion, others under dung. I give their names in a footnote.6 The first four species hasten to my earthenware pans, but the most numerous and most assiduous, those on whom the bulk of the work falls, are S. subnitidus and S. detersus. They arrive as early as April, at the same time as the Luciliæ, whose offspring they ravage with the same zeal as that of the Grey Fly. Both of them abound in my charnel-pits until the torrid sun of the dog-days puts an end to the invasion of the Flies by drying up the exposed carrion too quickly. They reappear in September, with the first cool breezes of autumn.