THE HORSE EOT FLY 137 



Froggatt thinks that some "Bots," taken from New 

 Zealand and killed at Botany (N.S.W), belonged to 

 this species. 



Prevention and Remedies. 



To the farmer and grazier, this is the most important 

 part of the business, and it is a question concerning which 

 there is in Victoria, even among the most skilled 

 veterinary surgeons, a great diversity of opinion ; the 

 general belief prevailing among some of our most 

 prominent veterinary experts is that deaths of horses 

 caused directly by Bots are rare, but that the presence 

 of the Bot Fly larvae, if the horse be not in a good state 

 of health, aggravates certain complaints, thus indirectly 

 causing death. 



In Victoria, and, it may be suspected, in many other 

 places also, it is customary to attribute the death of 

 horses to Bot Flies, when in reality this pest has had 

 nothing whatever to do with it. As an illustration, 

 one of the many which could be given, I may mention 

 a case to which I was called, viz., that of a horse which 

 had died, it was supposed from injuries which had been 

 caused by Bot Flies. Upon arrival at the place, 

 accompanied by the then Acting Inspector of Stock, 

 Mr. Stevens, I found that the horse had been interred 

 before we reached there; so it was decided to exhume 

 the body, which task was quickly accomplished by 

 means of a hastily arranged bush " block and tackle. " 

 Upon dissection it was found that the gullet of the horse 

 contained some hard substance, and when the gullet was 

 cut open, a ' 'roll" composed of bran and chaff had become 

 hardened, thus causing the death of the horse partly by 

 strangulation. 



When other parts of the body were opened, a good 

 many Bot Fly larvae were found, clinging as is their 

 habit to the membranous lining of the stomach, so that 

 the theory of the horse having died from the attack of 

 Bots was entirely disproved. 



