24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mony of those who are most immediately interested the 

 breeders of sheep that their effects are evil, and evil only, 

 and that the amount of injury is in direct proportion to their 

 numbers, as is the case with all other parasites. That, when 

 as abundant as they often are, they are capable of causing 

 death, seems to be well established. As a preventive, it 

 has been recommended to move the sheep to distant pastures 

 after most of the grubs or larvae have left the sheep and are 

 in the earth in the pupae state, which happens during June or 

 July, according to locality. In this State probably the latter 

 half of June would be the best time for this. Others smear the 

 noses of the sheep with tar, or make them do so themselves 

 by boring large augur holes in logs to contain salt, and fre- 

 quently smearing the adjacent wood with tar. Many provide 

 spots of light, dry soil into which the sheep may thrust their 

 noses when pursued by the fly. When the larva? have ac- 

 tually entered the nostrils in large numbers, they may be 

 removed to a considerable extent by a feather wet with oil of 

 turpentine, camphor, or a weak solution of carbolic acid, or 

 of creosote. Lime, in fine powder, is sometimes used; for 

 by sniffing it, they sneeze, and thus expel the larvae. Salt 

 water or diluted carbolic acid solution may also be injected 

 into the nose with a syringe. It is doubtful, however, 

 whether any remedies will reach the larvae which have taken 

 up their abode in the more remote cavities in the bones of the 

 forehead and beneath the bases of the horns. Therefore it is 

 better to apply these remedies early and often, if necessary. 



Another species of bot-fly (Hypoderma lineata Brauer), 

 lays its eggs upon the backs of sheep and cattle, and the 

 larvae live in tumors beneath the skin, like the more com- 

 mon Hypoderma bovis of cattle. It appears to be rare in this 

 country, but has been observed in Kentucky. This fly may 

 be known by three, longitudinal, naked, black stripes on the 

 thorax. The abdomen is very hairy, blackish, with three 

 bands, the base whitish or yellowish, the middle black, the 

 apex orange-red. The wings are transparent, somewhat 

 brownish, unspotted. In New Grenada another species, the 

 Dermatobia noxialis Goud., has the same habits, and also at- 



