INSECTS AND VEKMES. 1-V.) 



is sometimes seen, which is of a larger size than usual ; this I 

 imagine is the queen or female wasp, the mother of the future 

 swarm. MARKWICK. 



OESTRUS CURVICAUDA. 



This insect lays its nits or eggs on horses' legs, flanks, &c. 

 each on a single hair. The maggots when hatched do not 

 enter the horses' skins, but fall to the ground. It seems to 

 abound most in moist, moorish places, though sometimes seen 

 in the uplands. WHITE. 



NOSE FLY. 



About the beginning of July, a species of fly (musca) ob- 

 tains, which proves very tormenting to horses, trying still to 

 enter their nostrils and ears, and actually laying their eggs 

 in the latter of those organs, or perhaps in both. When 

 these abound, horses in woodland districts become very impa- 

 tient at their work, continually tossing their heads, and 

 rubbing their noses on each other, regardless of the driver, 

 so that accidents often ensue. In the heat of the day, men 

 are often obliged to desist from ploughing. Saddle-horses 

 are also very troublesome at such seasons. Country people 

 call this insect the nose fly. WHITE. 



Is not this insect the oestrus nasalis of Linnaeus, so well 

 described by Mr. Clark in the third volume of the Linnaean 



Transactions, under the name of oestrus vetennus ? MARK- 

 WICK. 



ICHNEUMON FLY. 



I saw lately a small ichneumon fly attack a spider much 

 larger than itself on a grass walk. When the spider made 



