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Journal of Experimental Biology 9,359-365 (1932)
Published by Company of Biologists 1932

Studies on the Nutrition of Blow-Fly Larvae : III. The Liquefaction of Muscle

R. P. HOBSON ¹

¹ Department of Entomology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

1. Investigation of the feeding of Lucilia larvae on meat suggested that the chief factors involved are mechanical maceration and the alkaline reaction which results in the first place from bacterial action.

2. Larvae suck the fluid serum from acid muscle; they ingest semi-liquid food only when the reaction is alkaline or the free liquid has been removed.

3. Predigestion of the muscle substance is apparently not essential, as the crop contents often consist of insoluble protein.

4. The proteolytic enzymes in the larval excreta, which include a collagenase, probably serve to digest the structural parts of muscle tissue.