112 HORSE AND CATTLE FLIES. 
The above characteristics were very noticeable in the Cachar speci- 
mens; the length of the flies from head to tip of wings folded as when 
at rest averaged about one-sixth less than that of our Forest Flies; 
ground colour of the body was paler and consequently less. distinct 
from the spots than in our Forest Fly; and the difference of the whole 
of the upper part of the scutellum being white or whitish was very 
observable. The veins of the wings also were redder, but as there is 
some difference in depth of tint of these veins in our own H., equina, 
this distinction was not so marked. 
The first observation of this fly sent in the past season was 
published in the ‘Field’ for August 8rd, 1895, p. 219; to which 
journal I acknowledge, with thanks, my obligation for the following 
good information :— 
“The description and illustration of the Forest Fly contained in 
your paper of May 11th correspond almost exactly with a fly which is 
a parasite on the pariah dogs of the district of India in which I reside. 
I have often seen fifty or a hundred on the neck and chest of pariahs, 
and from these they find their way to European dogs, but trouble 
these to a lesser extent, being dispersed in the daily washings. 
‘‘ They are pupiparous, and I have found their grub enclosed in a 
sac * in the long hair on the neck of my collie. They have the sidling 
motion and short flight of the Forest Fly, and the dogs find it almost 
impossible to get rid of one, such is the power of grasp of their hooked 
knife-like claws. 
‘‘T have often amused myself by grasping the fly by the wings 
between finger and thumb, then allowing it to catch the hair on the 
back of my other hand. So sharp is the claw, that the hair grasped 
by it is cut to shavings, like wood by a carpenter’s plane. This is not 
noted in the letter of May 11th, where its power of raising the skin by 
its hold on the hair is mentioned, so I presume the fly I am describing 
has its knife-like claws sharper than those of the Forest Fly. 
‘* A dog cannot kill one, the skin is so hard, but ‘mouths’ it with 
evident disgust, saliva flowing freely. The fly always escapes out of 
et partium oris. Illud in nostra sp. totum superne albicante sub-eburneum, non 
ad latera ferrugineum nee rufo-testaceum, macula tantum centrale flavido- 
albicante. Organo vero suctoria rufescentia vel lutescentia non nigricantia nec 
fusco picea; preeterea vitta frontalis pallide rufa non obscure fusca; vene alarum 
dilute testacea non nigricantes,” &c. 
‘In tota Italia et in Europa saltem australe legitur cum sequente” [H. equina, 
E. A. O.) “ permixta mammalibus variis molesta, et minus raro in canibus; sed 
examplaria speciei observavi Musei Civici Januensis in Persia lecta a March. J. 
Doria, et specimina collectionis Bellardi in Africa australe, et orientale inventa.’’— 
‘ Muscaria Exotica,’ &c. (reference given p. 111). 
* This ‘sac’? will no doubt be the puparium (described previously, and figured 
at p. 95) containing the undeveloped tly.—Ep. 
