224 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



comes to some extent on the wing from sloe or damson is 

 considered a strong confirmation of this theory. 



Miss Ormerod's great work of the year, however, has been 

 the discovery of mercurial ointment as a simple and inexpensive 

 means of destruction of the warhle-fly in cattle. 



" The great injury which is caused year after year by this attack is not 

 ouly from the perforations of the maggots lessening the value of the hides, but 

 from the loss in flesh and milk and health in summer, when the animals are 

 started by their terror of the fly to gallop as fast as they can go ; and later 

 on the suffering and drag on the system of supporting may be six, ten, or 

 twenty, sometimes even more than a hundred, of these strong maggots 

 growing up to an inch in length and feeding in the sore, which they keep 

 up from January or February until they are full-grown." 



Section of Warble, slightly larger than life. 



It is estimated that the annual losses from warble-fly (above 

 is a figure showing section of a warble in the hide) amount to 

 the enormous sum of from seven to eight million pounds sterling, 

 and Miss Ormerod shows how the attack may be very greatly 

 lessened, safely, cheaply, and without injury to the hide. 



" It should be observed relatively to destroying the maggot that it 

 breathes, or rather draws in the air necessary for it, through the two some- 

 what kidney-shaped black spots, which are easily seen in the tip of the 

 tail-end of the maggot in an advanced warble. If these ' spiracles ' or 

 breathing-pores are choked the insect dies ; consequently, if anything like 

 tar or mercurial ointment, or other choking substance, is applied, the maggot 

 is sure to be destroyed. Piercing the warble is not so perfectly certain to 

 kill it, as the operation is not always thoroughly performed. Of the various 

 applications noticed that of mercurial ointment appears the simplest and 

 surest." 



The smallest quantity of mercurial ointment (as much as a 

 small pea) placed on the hole in the skin carries death within 

 twenty-four hours. 



We strongly recommend our readers to procure this Report, 

 for it is of equal interest to entomologists and to farmers, while 

 as a record of patient and unwearying work it cannot fail to win 

 the admiration of all. 



