lilPE-HISTORY. 59 



Macquart as liable to infestation are hawks, starlings, magpies, part- 

 ridges, blackbirds, larks, redbreasts, and titmice. 



Like the Hippohnscidff, the Oniithomym are pupiparous, not ovi- 

 parous (that is, not propagated by egg-laying), nor do they live on 

 their hosts as larvae, or maggots, but pass this stage in the abdomen 

 of the female, and are deposited at its completion, just at the com- 

 mencement of the pupal stage. The pupa of OrmtJiomyia is noted by 

 Leon Dufour * as being black, two or three times smaller than that of 

 Hippobusca, smoother, and more shining, and of the same general 

 conformation, but without the notch at the posterior extremity. For 

 figure of pupa (or pupariumf) of Hippohosca equina, life size and 

 magnified, see p. 60, preceding. 



B'or methoch of prevention and remedy, the natural powers of the 

 birds would appear calculated to supply all that is necessary. These 

 Spider Flies have the same power as the Horse Forest Flies of walking 

 with facility and speed backwards or forwards or to either side (vide 

 Dufour, previously quoted). But the claws of the insects have not 

 the power of clasping on the quills of the feathers of birds as they 

 have on the individual hairs of horses and cattle, and consequently 

 much irritation must be spared regarding this point. With regard to 

 irritation of the skin from traffic and passage of the Spider Flies, the 

 bird holds the remedy in its own beak and claws ; and in Mr. Wheler's 

 notes, at page 57, he mentions the number on each bird as generally 

 being only two or three. 



* L. Dufour, " Sur les Pui^ipares," p. 83. 



+ The word pupa refers to the insect itself in the intermediate condition 

 between that of larva and imago, or perfect insect ; puparium is the case or dry 

 skin in which (as in flies, for instance) the change is carried on, but the words are 

 often in popular use not confined to their precise meanings. 



