KEPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



129 



Fijr. 16. 



diluted carbolic acid might prove equally efficacious in driving tliemaway. 

 The females of the Tabanidae, horse or gad flies, are exceedingly 

 troublesome by attacking and biting horses and cattle, especially in 

 Pi„ 15 " woody districts. A large black 



'^' ' species, (T. atratus,) (Fig. 15) is 



especially troublesome in Mary- 

 land, from its great size, and the 

 severity of its bite or sting. A 

 smaller species, (Chrysoris,) known 

 as the golden-eyed forest-fly, (Fig. 

 16,) from the beauty 

 and metallic luster of 

 its eyes when alive, 

 and in the Western 

 States as the ear-fly, 

 from its habit of at- 

 tacking generally the 

 ears of the horses, is \ery annoy- 

 ing. It is, hovrcver, stated that if the horse be washed with a strong 

 decoction of walnut-leaves, or smart- weed, before commencing a journey, 

 it will not be attacked by the gad flies, as they avoid the odor or taste. 

 Lobelia, aloes, and quassia are sometimes added. Petroleum oil or very 

 dilute carbolic acid would most x)robably have the same effect. 

 Sheep are sometimes severely injured by the larva of a fly known as the 



Fig 17. 



sheep-bot, or head-maggot, (Estrus {Cc2)halomyia) ovis. 

 The egg of the fly is deposited in the nostrils of the sheep 

 the maggots make their way up the nostrils into the 

 head, where they live in the maxillary and frontal sin- 

 uses. When ready to change, they descend, or are 

 sneezed out, fall to the ground, and change to pui);^ in 

 the shortened and hardened skin of the larvjc, which 

 forms a sort of cocoon for them, and the perfect fly ap- 

 pears in a few weeks. Kollcr states that formerly^hey 

 were taken out of the head b3' trepanning, but that pro- 

 cess must be extremely dangerous. lujections and the 

 smoke of burnt leather have been recommended; smear- 

 ing the noses of sheep with tar is also highly spoken of 

 as preventing the fly from laying her eggs in the nos- 

 trils, and Professor Verrill says that " the sheep may be made to do it 

 themselves by boring large auger-holes in logs, to contain salt, and 

 Fig. 18. frequently smearing the adjacent wood with 



tar.'' " When the grubs are in the nostrils 

 they may be removed to a considerable ex- 

 tent by a feather wet with the oil of turpen- 

 tine, camphor, or a weak solution of carbolic 

 acid or creosote. Lime in fine powder is 

 sometimes used, as by sniffing it the sheep 

 sneeze and thus exiDel the larvic. Salt water 

 or dilute carbolic acid may bo injected into 

 the nose with a syringe." It is also advis- 

 able that sheep should not be placed in pastures where other sheep 

 have already been that were troubled with the head-maggot, or sheep- 

 bot fly, as the larvre remain in or on the ground from six'to ten weeks, 

 and after that time a fresh supply of flics will make their appearance to 

 annoy the flock. 

 9 A 



