32 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



almost certainly it also occurs in the States ; 

 but Dr. Hadwen had to send to Dublin for 

 specimens with which to confirm his find. 

 None existed in the collections in Ottawa, 

 and a ' request for a specimen . . . from the 

 Bureau of Entomology at Washington, D.C., 

 could not be granted owing to a scarcity 

 of specimens ' ! These statements are in- 

 teresting, since at present the tanneries of 

 Canada are working night and day to help 

 our shortage in leather at home. 



H. hovis measures f in. in length, H. 

 lineatum, somewhat less robust, J in. ; the 

 hairy covering of the last named is of a foxy 

 red at the tail end, while that of H. hovis is 

 yellow, both at the tail end and towards the 

 front of the body. The flies are most abundant 

 during July and August, though they are 

 believed to occur throughout the summer. 

 At Athenry (co. Galway) H. lineatum is com- 

 mon by the middle of May. They fly very 

 rapidly, and are difficult to follow with the 

 eye. They rejoice in warm, sunny weather, 

 and remain in retirement during cold or 

 cloudy days. Hadwen describes the egg- 

 laying by the female ' as a sort of frenzied 

 process, the fly striking ' with its ovipositor 

 twenty or thirty times rapidly, then leaving 

 the animal for fifteen minutes or so, when 

 the process was repeated. The eggs are 



