392 WORMS. 



horse be reported as having the lampas, examine his mouth, 

 and something may be found wrong with his giinders, or, to 

 a certainty, the cause is to be sought in another part of the 

 body than the roof of the mouth. 



WORMS. 



Every part of animated existence appears subservient to 

 the purposes of other portions of" it ; and therefore every 

 thing hving may be considered as parasitic, chnging around 

 other hving matter for support. Insects, in an especial 

 manner, appear to deserve this character ; for many of 

 them actually entomb themselves within other animals, 

 even as if the bowels were their constant habitation, or 

 their temporary residence during particular states. Such, 

 however, is the case with worms, whose lives are passed 

 within the intestines of most animals. These parasites, 

 annoying the horse, are of several kinds. The Lumbiici, 

 which resemble the earth-worm, and are not uncommon in 

 the small intestines, where they occasionally do mischief by 

 their irritation. Ascaris, or thread-worms, so called from 

 their filamentary figure, are darker and larger in the horse 

 than in man, and reside in the rectum and ceecum occa- 

 sionally ; when they exist in large numbers they may prove 

 prejudicial. The late Mr. Percivall attributed the death of 

 two horses to their presence. Tania, or tape-worm, is but 

 seldom found, and its effects therefore have been little 

 noticed. Bots are the larvae or grubs of the oestrus or 

 gad-fly : and our knowledge of the natural history of this 

 genus has been much extended by that able naturalist and 

 veterinarian, Mr. Bracy Clark. He is, however, mistaken, 

 when he asserts that they are always innocuous : on the 

 contrary, they have even brought on fatal terminations. 

 Mr. Coleman relates an instance which, nevertheless, has 

 no equal to support it, where they had eroded the stomach, 

 and thence had penetrated the diaphragm also. Mr. Cart- 

 wright, of Whitchurch, also describes a case illustrative 

 of their injurious consequences. 



Horses, however, which are turned out during the sum- 

 mer months, are alone subject to bots. Upon a fine day, 

 a fly may be seen buzzing about the lower portion of the 

 liorse's body which is at pasture. AU at once the insect 



