INSECTS AND ENTOMOLOGISTS 



217 



ago from Mediterranean Europe and rapidly spread throughout the 

 United States and Canada. 



Buffalo gnats and similar species make certain sections of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley region almost uninhabitable for cattle at times, and 

 dairying in some places is barred because of the abundance of mos- 

 quitoes. These are all external attacks which reduce the condition 

 of the creature attacked because of the irritation, pain or actual loss 

 of blood. 



There are others that are more truly parasitic, like the bots. Where- 

 ever sheep are raised in numbers the herders have their troubles with 

 the species that gets into the nasal passages, causing blind staggers and 

 often death. Cattle are infested by species that lodge under the skin, 



Fig. 8. The ox bot, Hypoderma lineata ; a, eggs; b, fly; c, larva. 



forming suppurating sores along the back. These reduce the condition 

 of the animal and materially lessen the value of the skin. Horsemen 

 know to their sorrow the species that fixes on the walls of the stomach, 

 often in such numbers as to kill the animal. To realize the amount 

 of suffering caused to their hosts by these insects and others with 

 similar habits is almost impossible. To estimate the money loss caused 

 to man has been attempted and the figures run to astounding sums. 



But the end is not even yet, for these same animals often suffer 

 from diseases similar to those of man and like them transmissible 

 through or carried by insects. Ticks are not insects, but the economic 

 entomologist is often expected to deal with them, hence we may just 

 mention the cattle tick in connection with Texas fever, which has 

 destroyed and still destroys its thousands and causes enormous money 

 losses. 



Many of our birds suffer from maladies similar to malaria, caused 

 by a Proteosoma, and even the common and ever vociferous sparrow is 

 not exempt. These species of Proteosoma find their intermediate 

 hosts in certain species of Culex or whatever the present equivalent 



