TUE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 163 



the head, and many even deny that the grub is capable of any injury 

 to the sheep whatever. From the fact that this grub may be found in 

 the head of almost every sheep that dies, in the Western States at 

 least, it is undoubtedly true that many other diseases are cloaked by 

 the popular verdict of ''grub in the head." It is none the less true, 

 however, that those Agricultural editors, who pretend to instruct, 

 simply show their lack of practical knowledge, in butting against 

 that which must be the firm conviction of every flock master, viz : 

 that sheep do die of grub in the head, Messrs. Youatt and Clark not- 

 withstanding. 



Mr. Youatt declares : "It is incompatible with that wisdom and 

 goodness that are more and more evident in proportions as the phe- 

 nomena of nature are closely examined, that the destined residence 

 of the (Entries ovis should be productive of continued inconvenience 

 or disease." I agree most decidedly with Mr. Randall, that "this is as 

 far fetched as a conclusion, as the reasoning on which it is founded." 



If grub in the head is not productive of inconvenience or disease, 

 as the disciples of Youatt have it, whence the suffering condition, 

 the loss of appetite, the slow, weak gait, the frequent coughing, the 

 slimy and purulent matter, sometimes so profusely secreted as at 

 times to almost prevent the animal breathing? Whence the tossing 

 and lowering of- the head, and the fits of frenzy, to which so naturally 

 quiet and gentle an animal as the sheep is subject? All these symp- 

 toms result from grub in the head, and the animal frequently gets too 

 weak to rise, and finally dies. These effects of the grub were well 

 recognized and understood by such old writers and close observers as 

 Reaumur and Kollar; while Mr. Dan'l Kelly, of Wheaton, Illinois; 

 Towne Bros., of Geneva, Illinois; M. L. Cockrill, of Tennessee, and 

 other well known flock-masters with whom I have either con- 

 versed or corresponded, are unanimous in ascribing these symp- 

 toms to the true cause ; and the late S. V. Boardman, of Lincoln, Illi- 

 nois, coincided with them in this respect. For my part, I would as 

 soon believe that those parasites were beneficial, which are so injuri- 

 ous to man, either internally or externally, or those which prey upon 

 our caterpillars and other insects, and invariably destroy them ; for 

 although, when there are but few grubs in the head, the injury they 

 inflict is not perceptible, they can never be heneficial, and when nu- 

 merous enough will undoubtedly cause death. Tney cannot live in 

 the head of the sheep without causing great irritation by the spines 

 with which the ventral region is covered and the hooks with which 

 they cling to such a sensitive membrane as that which lines the sin- 

 uses. Moreover, when numerous enough to absoi b more mucous than 

 the sheep secretes, the grubs will feed on the membrane itself, and 

 (according to the evidence of some practical sheep men) will even 

 enter to the brain through the natural perforation of the ethmoid 

 bone, through which pass the olfactory nerves; in either of which 

 cases, they must cause the most excruciating pain. The natural 'iear 



