ENTOMOLOGICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1915, 23 October 1890, Page 5

ENTOMOLOGICAL.

By Entomologist.

ENTOMOLOGICAL EVIDENCE IN A MURDER CASE.

The May and June number of the United States Government entomological work, "Inseofc Life," gives a very curious case where the expert evidence of an entomologist is sought to establish the innocence of a person accused of murder by the administration of a dose of arsenio. The case is referred to at some considerable length, and full particular given under the head of " Nflcrophagus diptera," which baing interpreted means two winged flies which eafc dead bodieß. An elderly man, a German, living at La Fayette, Indiana, U. S. A., died rather suddenly, and was duly buried. (This was early m January 1838). Two years later some suspicions of foul play arose, and it was determined to exhume the body, and make an investigation. The full particulars given have reference to the entomological side of the question only, and do not go into anything else ; nor even give the ultimate result of tho investigation. The man, it appears, wa3 placed very shortly after death in a " praotically airtight " coffin, which was enclosed in another^ and the whole buried at the usual depth, in a stiff blue clay. Expert evidence goes to show that tho dipterous insects referred to in the heading could not enter the coffiu after it was placed in the ground. The death taking place in midwinter, with the temperature of the room barely above freezing point, it is nofc likely that flies would bo attraoted before the placing in the coffin, and what is moreover aingular, is that the kind of flies found io the coffin, on its being opened, were not thoße which are generally attracted by animal remains, but are of a rather obscure and rare species, that are not known to American scientiats, but according to German authorities feed, in the larval stages, upon deoaying radishes, and such substances. All this is so described as to puzzle entomologists how to account for their presence. However, be this as it may, they were there, and in very large numbers, and had evidently been there for a very long time, and had bred a great many generations, Tha

account is somewhat gruesome, and we will skip the most of the details and relate only what is necessary to explain the position. The upper and drier portions of the body were mostly devoured, in the lower places were fluids, which had baen the contents of the stomach, and in these (together with the liver, &c.) was found a very small portion of arsenic (about \\ grains) The flies were exceedingly numerous and in all stages of egg, larva (a maggot), pupa, and perfect fly, both d6ad and alive ; showing that many generations had lived and died in their horrible abode, and lived on what is designated their " ghoulish feast." Mr Webster, who was our late visitor in New Zealand, and who is on the Btaif of the United States Division of Entomology, waß called on to Bay whether it was posible these insects could subsist on a substance of which arsenic formed a part (tbe defence U3ing that argu ment), and in this matter ha consulted Professor Sir C. V. Riloy as head of the division. The opiaion of these learned scientists seems to be against this line of defence, inasmuch as that the arva of dipterous flies are very hard to kill by poisons such as arsenic, and a case is recorded of some 150 pheasantß being killed by eating maggots out of the dead body of an animal killed by even strychnia (the statement itself is a curiouß one, and comeß on the authority of the Lancet). Although Professor Riley expresses doubts as to the accuracy of this Btatoment, ho instancen oases of dipteron larvee having lived in circumstances aa trying as the one ucder consideration, and doe* nof. aeem to think tho point a strong one in favour of the defonce. Mr Webster writes : "If wo have a fly here in Indiana which can kill a man in mid-winter, and half devour him within two years, poison aud all, it will bo worth knowing." The defence Ret up a theory that the man mußt have taken the insects at some stage into bin stomach, and that they, and not poison, waie the cause of his death. It would be egotistical and presumptuous for tho writer of this paper to entertain opinions contrary to Lhoee of two such men as Professor Riley and Profesßor Webster, especially without knowing what they probably may do of the case beyond what is reported ; but it is a fact that whilst the larvse of many dipterons are exceedingly hard to kill by poisons, the perfect iucec'.B or flies of the order diptera are, as a rule, the most easy of any order to destroy in that way, especially with arsenical poisonß, and moreover, wbercas the. maggots may prefer the upper and harder portions of the body (where less areonic would be), the flies would naturally seek tbe lower mid more liquid portions of the body (whore tho poiaon would be), and it seems to him to be impossible that the man could have takaa a quantity of areenic sufficient to pohon him, and generations of flies living upon hiR body and the fluids of the stomach. It would be interesting to know whether the inquiry reached the length of a trial by jury, and what was the ultimate reBult, to ascertain which the writer has now communicated with the Division of Entomology.