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ON THE EMASCULATING BOT-ELY. 



(Cnterebra emasciilator Fitcb.) 



Since the publication by Dr. Fitch in his Fourth New York Report of 

 his loug and interesting account of this insect, it has received little 

 notice from entomologists. Dr. Fitch's article attracted great attention, 

 and the fact that a bot-fly existed which, according to his statements, 

 apparently bred only in the testicles of Chipmunks or Gophers and 

 Squirrels was certainly a remarkable one. Dr. Fitch succeeded in rear- 

 ing but one adult which issued about July 29, 1857, from earth in ajar 

 in which the larva had been placed September 1, 1856. So far as we 

 know this is the only adult of the species which has ever been reared. 



Fig. 4S.—Ciiterebi-a emasculator : a, full-growu larva from above; b, same, from below— enlarged ; 

 c, head of same; d, anal end of same; e, portion of integument of same — still more enlarged (original). 



Dr. Fitch published a painstaking description of the different stages 

 and gave the species the name of Guterehra emasculator from the larval 

 habit which he supposed characteristic. He mentions the fact that 

 hunters in the vicinity of Lakeville, K Y., where the first specimen 

 sent him was found, had long been familiar with the fact that at least 

 onehalf of the male gray squirrels shot in that vicinity were found to 

 be castrated, and that it was the opinion of hunters that the deformity 



