THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



161 



"Farm Insects," and one of them— the Oscinis vastator — though a 

 very different fly, seems to have almost precisely the same habit as 

 our insect. It is quite probable, also, that in this country as in Eu- 

 rope, there are two broods during the year, the second brood of larvae 



king grain sown in the fall, but farther investigation alone will 

 decide these points. 



. Remedies. — Much can be done in an artificial way by cutting off 

 and destroying all the infested stalks, which may readily be recognized 

 by the signs already described; but even if tins plan should faithfully 



rried out, it is doubtful whether it would pay in a country where 

 labor is so scarce and demands such high wages as in ours. We there- 

 fore have to fall back on the only practical means within our reach, 

 viz: that of varying the culture by alternate courses, and this siyle of 

 cultivation will have to be more generally adopted, should this pigmy 

 foe sufficiently increase as to greatly diminish the yield of the "staff 



e." There is every reason to believe, however, that Nature ha3 

 her own means of keeping th< ithin due bounds, for they are 



known to be preyed upon itic Ichneumon flies in Europe, and 



iced many flies of this last description, of polished act- 



ive movements, deftly darting through, and resting upon the wheat 

 plants of the fields infested wi 



THE 6LIEEP BOT-FLY OE GOT— (Estrus ovis, Linn, 



CEstridaj.) 



For the benefit of sheep rais- 



rub in 



ac- 

 the i- 

 the head." Tl 



(Fig. 91) repr-. 



Lges. 1 she , radfly, 



vings closed; 2 the 



:ed; 3, the 



from which the fly has escaped; 



4 the full grown larva, dorsal view; 



5 the same, ventral view ; G the same 

 when younger. 



This insect is the dread of sheep in the Old as well as. the New- 

 World, and was made mention of by the Greek physician, Alexander 

 Traliien, as far back as the year 5G0. 



The flies make their appearance in June and July, and deposit 

 living maggots in the nostrils of the sheep. As soon as they are de- 

 posited they ascend the nostrils, causing great irritation on.their way, 

 until they reach the frontal sinuses ; there they attach themselves by 



11 R S B 



