Parasitic Arthropoda 
114 
living maggots in the nostrils of sheep. These larvse promptly pass 
up the nasal passages into the frontal and maxi liars 7 sinuses, where 
they feed on the mucous to be found there. In their migrations 
they cause great irritation to their host, and when present in numbers 
may cause vertigo, paroxysms, and even death. Portschinsky in an 
important monograph on this species, has discussed in detail its 
relation to man. He shows that it is not uncommon for the fly to 
attack man and that the minute living larvse are deposited in the 
eyes, nostrils, lips, or mouth. A typical case in which the larvae 
w T ere deposited in the eye was described by a German oculist Kayser, 
in 1905. A woman brought her six year old daughter to him and 
said that the day before, about noontime, a flying insect struck the 
eye of the child and that since then she had felt a pain which in¬ 
creased towards evening. In the morning the pain ceased but the 
eye was very red. She was examined at about noon, at which time 
she was quiet and felt no pain. She was not sensitive to light, and 
the only thing noticed was a slight congestion and accumulation of 
secretion in the comer of the right eye. A careful examination of 
the eye disclosed small, active, white larvae that crawled out from 
the folds of the conjunctiva and then back and disappeared. Five 
of these larvae were removed and although an uncomfortable feeling 
persisted for a while, the eye became normal in about three weeks. 
Some of the other recorded cases have not resulted so favorably, 
for the eyesight has been seriously affected or even lost. 
According to Edmund and Etienne Sergent (1907), myasis caused 
by the larvae of Oestris ovis is very common among the shepherds in 
Algeria. The natives say that the fly deposits its larvae quickly, 
while on the wing, without pause. The greatest pain is caused when 
these larvae establish themselves in the nasal cavities. They then 
produce severe frontal headaches, making sleep impossible. This 
is accompanied by continuous secretion from the nasal cavities 
and itching pains in the sinuses. If the larvae happen to get into 
the mouth, the throat becomes inflamed, swallowing is painful, 
and sometimes vomiting results. The diseased condition may last 
for from three to ten days or in the case of nasal infection, longer, 
but recovery' always follows. The natives remove the larvae from 
the eye mechanically by means of a small rag. When the nose is 
infested, tobacco fumigations are applied, and in case of throat 
infestation gargles of pepper, onion, or garlic extracts are used. 
