212 TICKS. 



M.Hdaumur was the first to discover these curious particulars ; 

 and he was so anxious to observe the development of the insect 

 from these singular eggs, that he carried them in his pocket 

 by day and took them to bed with him at night, in order that 

 they might have a uniform degree of warmth ; great was his 

 surprise therefore when, instead of grubs as he expected, 

 perfect flies were produced. 



"These insects are interesting in their habits. They 

 live exclusively upon quadrupeds and birds; the horse is 

 especially subject to the attacks of one of these species, hence 

 called Hippobosca equina. This species is the type of the 

 genus Hippobosca, in which the eyes are large and distinct, 

 being placed at the sides of the head ; the antennse are in the 

 shape of tubercles with three dorsal setae; the wings are large. 

 Mr Curtis observes that these flies move swiftly, and like a 

 crab, sideways or backwards; they are very tenacious of life, 

 and live principally on horses, attaching themselves to the 

 belly between the thighs and under the tail, where they 

 are less protected by hair. It is remarked by Latreille that 

 the ass fears them most, and that horses suffer very little 

 from them. In the New Forest they abound in a most 

 astonishing degree. Mr Samouelle says, ' From the flanks of 

 one horse I have obtained six handfuls, which consisted of 

 upwards of a hundred specimens. They abound most on 

 white and light-coloured horses.' 



"The other genera are: Omithomyia, Craterina, Oxyp- 

 terum, Hcemobora, Melophagus, Feronia, Lipotepna, and 

 probably Braula. Of these the first three are British, and 

 are found upon various birds, the Craterina hirundinis 

 depositing its egg like a cocoon in the nest of the swallow, 

 where it receives all the necessary warmth; for which it 

 repays the poor swallow by sucking its blood. The wings 

 in this genus are very long and narrow. The genus Melo- 



