VE11MIN IN THE SKIN. 195 



The maggots burrow, devour, and render the skin sore, 

 suppuration speedily sets in, the worms continue to devour, 

 and soon deep chasms result The sufferings of the sheep 

 are great; and, unless the maggots are promptly destroyed 

 and the wound kept clean, death results. Strange cases 

 have occurred in man; such as a labourer, sleeping on a hot 

 day in July beneath a tree, with some meat and bread on 

 his chest under the shirt, has been attacked by the maggots 

 to such an extent as to induce a fatal wound. The American 

 soldiers suffered severely in 1862 from maggots in the 

 wounds inflicted in the battle-field, or by the surgeon, and a 

 new remedy was recommended in the shape of elder oint- 

 ment. Unfortunately, rank poisons have been distributed 

 amongst shepherds to ward off the attack of the fly. The fly 

 oil in perhaps greatest repute owes its efficiency to no less 

 deadly material than corrosive sublimate, the extreme solu- 

 bility and destructiveness of which places it at the head of 

 the list of dangerous poisons which farmers and others 

 should avoid using. Many substances will kill the maggots 

 without danger to the sheep, and it were well if farmers 

 acted more under professional advice rather than trust to 

 quack preparations, which often kill. Indeed, it is best to 

 prevent the attack of the fly by impregnating the fleece with 

 some material which prevents putrefaction, and which must 

 there interfere with the wellbeing of the maggots. 



LICE IN ANIMALS. 



The following table and description of the natural charac- 

 ters of these parasites are abridged from " Denny's Mono- 

 graphia Anoplurorum Britannise :" 



