304 



mestic cattle, both in this couutry and Europe, throw considerable 

 doubt on this supposition, and also leave the question of its original habi- 

 tat in doubt. Two flies referable to this species, a male and a female, 

 were bred by Dr. Cooper Curtice, April 16, 1891, from larvae extracted 

 from the back of an animal. I have also a specimen from Prof. Her- 

 bert Osboru, reared from a bot collected in Illinois. Careful examina- 

 tion of these specimens, together with the balance of the material in 

 the National Collection, comprising in all some 33 specimens, shows that 

 they all belong to lineata. Of this material 16 specimens were re- 

 ceived from correspondents as the Heel Fly from various points in 

 Texas; two by the same name from New Jersey, one of which was re- 

 ported to have been ovipositing just above the hoof of a cow ; five speci- 

 mens were collected in Colorado, of which one differs from the normal 

 type in haviog a scantier pubescence on the face; one specimen is from 

 southern Georgia and three are without any locality label. In addi- 

 tion to the bred specimen from Prof. Osborn, he sent for comparison 

 three collected specimens taken at Ames, Iowa, and one in Colorado. 

 An examination of the larvte in the National Collection also shows a 

 frill agreement with the larva? of lineata. These are from Arkansas, 

 Texas, Illinois, Nebraska (three of which were taken from a buffalo bull 

 by Mr. L. Bruner), and others without date or locality. Dr. Salmon 

 also has a large series of larvae numbering above 500 specimens, all of 

 which were examined by Dr. Curtice and by myself and Mr. C. L. Marlatt, 

 and prove to belong to lineata. These were taken for the most part at 

 the Washington abattoir and from cattle from Virginia, West, Vir- 

 ginia, Ohio, and Maryland. A large number of them were, however, 

 taken in Texas, and others came from various localities. I have cor- 

 responded also with Dr. Williston and a number of others who either 

 have private collections or are in charge of public collections, and have 

 been unable to secure from any source whatever either a larva or 

 adult referable to hovis and collected in this country. My examina- 

 tion of this material has been greatly facilitated and the results made 

 more conclusive by the kindness of Dr. Brauer in sending, at my re- 

 quest, authentic specimens of the larva, puparium and adult of H. hovis. 



LIFE HISTORY OF HYPODERMA LINEATA. 



Chiefly through the investigations of Dr. Cooper Curtice, late of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry of this Department, some curious and anom- 

 alous facts have been discovered, which have thrown a good deal of 

 light on the actual life-history of this bot-fly, and have shown the pre- 

 viously accepted views to be erroneous. A preliminary notice of the^e 

 facts was given by Dr. Curtice in Insect Life, Vol. ii (pp. 207, 208), and 

 a full account has since appeared in the Journal of Comparative Medi- 

 cine and Veterinary Archives^ Vol. xii, pp. 265-274, June, 1891. Dr. 

 Curtice had not witnessed the actual mode of oviposition or the position 

 of the eggs in a state of nature, nor has anyone recorded the facts up to 



