THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 67 



Caribou Warble-Fly. — Before leaving this animal, refer- 

 ence should be made to the occurrence of warbles in the 

 hides of the caribou. During the spring and summer a 

 species of warble-fly (CEdamagena tarandi L.) deposits its 

 eggs on the coat of the caribou, and the small maggots bore 

 into the skin and ultimately find a resting-place beneath 

 the skin, particularly on the back of the animal. By Oc- 

 tober the presence of these maggots can be noticed on ac- 

 count of the lumps or ''warbles" on the hide. The maggots 

 continue to grow, and pierce the hide for the purpose of 

 breathing. Early in the spring they emerge through the 

 holes that they have made in the hide and fall to the 

 ground, where they change into brownish-black pupse, from 

 which the flies emerge. Owing to the numerous holes made 

 in the skin of the caribou by these maggots the skins are 

 rendered useless for dressing, and the total destruction of 

 hides is very great. As is well known, our domestic cattle 

 are attacked by a closely related species of warble-fly. 

 The Eskimos are very fond of the large, juicy maggots, and 

 whenever a caribou affected with maggots is killed and 

 skinned they pick the Hving grubs ofif the under sides of the 

 skins and eat them raw with great relish. To a taste accus- 

 tomed to consuming all kinds of raw meat they are no doubt 

 delicacies of a high order. 



The caribou are tormented by myriads of black flies and 

 mosquitoes, and it is no doubt largely on account of these 

 pests that they travel northward in the spring, although they 

 are by no means able to escape the hordes of these blood- 

 sucking insects that occur in the north in the spring and 

 early smnmer. 



THE WOODLAND CARIBOU AND RELATED SPECIES 



While zoologists are still undecided as to the number of 

 species of caribou that occur in Canada, it is possible to 

 separate four distinct species, namely: (1) the barren-ground 



