THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 3807 
it crawls with great facility by means of its long, curved, 
bifid claws: the ovipupa is deposited at the roots of the wool 
close to the skin. 
2. Mr. Cordeaux writes as follows on this Pest :—“The 
fags are common alike to all our breeds of domestic sheep, 
and their prevalence in some districts during the present 
season I attribute, in a great measure, to the scarcity of keep 
during the past years When sheep are shrinking, or ill fed, and 
‘doing badly,’ these pests increase. They are, when numerous, 
extremely prejudicial to the welfare and improvement of the 
animal they infest; constantly irritating and causing the sheep 
to rub themselves, and to pull out the wool with their mouths 
(‘pluck themselves, as our shepherds call it): in fact, they 
keep the sheep in a perpetual worry, preventing rest, and, 
consequently, altogether stopping or greatly retarding the 
fattening or well-doing of the animal. No flock is without 
them: that they should, however, exist in numbers injurious 
to the sheep is wndoubledly the fault of the careless farmer 
or flock-master; as with proper attention they are easily 
kept within bounds. My own plan is, as soon as possible 
after clip time (by which process the elder sheep are -pretty 
well cleared of these vermin), to dip the lambs in some of 
the various compositions used for this purpose; and in 
November to salve the whole flock with mercurial ointment, 
which is rubbed at intervals in streaks along the skin without 
smearing the wool. This process not only gradually destroys 
the fags, but also greatly improves the growth of the fleece 
and the health of the animal. In a badly-fed and neglected 
flock the fags increase rapidly.".—John Cordeaux; Great 
Cotes, Ulceby, Lincolnshire, April 12, 1871. . 
3. The Bot or Nose-fly of the Sheep.—The life-history of 
this fly is well known: its eggs are laid on the inner margin 
of the sheep’s nostril, from a single one to seven or eight in 
each sheep, and these, on becoming larva, enter the frontal 
and maxillary sinuses, aud, it is said, even the horns; but of 
this | am unable to speak from my own observation. I have 
found many in the frontal sinuses, having obtained the heads 
from a butcher: they appear to me to feed on the pus caused 
by the irritation, but, perhaps, also on the healthy secretions. 
When the larve are young they are perfectly white and 
transparent, except two small, black, horny plates: as they 
