484 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



physiologist, Reaumur, it appears that the female is 

 furnished with a singularly constructed ovipositor, 

 which lengthens by a series of sliding tubes (Plate x, 

 fig. 10), precisely like that of an opera-glass. There 

 are four of these tubes, as may be seen by pressing 

 the belly of the fly till they come into view. Like 

 other ovipositors of the same sort, they are composed 

 of a horny substance. This instrument is furnished 

 with five points, three of which are longer than the 

 other two, and at first sight not unlike a fleur-de-lis \ 

 though, upon narrower inspection, they may be dis- 

 covered to terminate in curved points (Plate x, fig. 12), 

 somewhat like the claw of a cat. The two shorter 

 pieces are also pointed, but not curved ; and by the 

 union of the five, a tube is composed for the passage 

 of the eggs. (See Plate x, fig. n.) It would be 

 necessary, Reaumur confesses, to see the fly employ 

 this instrument to ascertain in what manner it acts, 

 though he is disposed to consider it fit for boring 

 through the hides of cattle. 



Mr Bracey Clarke, taking another view of the 

 subject, is decidedly of opinion that the fly does not 

 pierce the skin of cattle with its ovipositor at all, but 

 merely glues its eggs to the hairs, while the grubs, 

 when hatched, eat their way under the skin. If this 

 be the fact, as is not improbable, the three curved 

 pieces of the ovipositor, instead of acting, as Reaumur 

 imagined, like a centre-bit, will only serve to prevent 

 the eggs from falling till they are firmly glued to the 

 hair, the opening formed by the two shorter points 

 permitting this to be effected. 



The extraordinary effects produced upon cattle, on 

 the appearance of one of these flies, would certainly 

 lead us to conclude that the pain inflicted by the ovi- 

 positor, is excruciating. Most of our readers may 



