158 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



this is the proper genus to which the original Greek 

 Buprestis, tlie true type of the insect in question, ought 

 to be referred, and not Meloe. 



Whether this animal be really guilty to the extent 

 of which it is accused admits of considerable doubt; but 

 as I have not the means of ascertaining this, I shall 

 leave the question for others who are better informed 

 to decide. 



But, of all our cattle none are more valuable and 

 important to us than our flocks / to them we look not 

 only for a principal part of our food, but also for cloth- 

 ing and even light. Thick, as is their coat of wool, it 

 does not shield them from the attack of all-subduing 

 insects: on the contrary it affords a comfortable shel- 

 ter to one of their enemies of this class, regarded by 

 Linne as a species of Ilippohosca^ but properly sepa- 

 rated from that genus by Latreille under the name of 

 Melophagus. This is commonly called the sheep-louse, 

 and is so tenacious of life that we are told by Ray it will 

 exist in a fleece twelve months after it is shorn, and its 

 excrements are said to give a green tinge to the wool 

 very difficult to be discharged. — You have doubtless 

 often observed in the heat of the day the sheep shaking 

 their heads and strikingtheground violently with their 

 fore feet; or running away and getting into ruts, dry 

 dusty spots or gravel pits, where crowding together 

 they hold their noses close-^o the ground. The object 

 of -all these actions and movements is to keep the gad- 

 fly appropriated to them (CE. Ovis^ L.) from getting at 

 their nostrils, on the inner margin of which they lay 

 their eggs, from whence the maggots make their way 

 into the head, feeding in the maxillary and frontal si- 



