THE LAPLAND ALPS. 45 



scratching them, while in a growing state; 

 with its feet ; they being in that state much 

 inchned to itch, and as tender as the flesh 

 of a fresh fish. 



These animals are afflicted with maggots 

 called kornmatskar in their noses and 

 gums, from which they relieve themselves 

 in the spring by snorting and blowing.- 

 When the insects lodge on their backs and 

 form pustules there, the people make a 

 practice of squeezing them out, to prevent 

 the reindeer from being too much irritated 

 by them. (This species is the Oestrus 

 nasalis, though the account here given is 

 not ver}^ clear ; but in the first edition only 

 of the Fauna Suecica Linnaeus says, on 

 the authority of a gentleman named Frie- 

 denreich, that " this Oestrus lodges its 

 eggs in the frontal sinus of the reindeer in 

 Lapland, and is frequently cast out by 

 them as they travel along in the spring.") 

 - When the skin is stripped from the 

 carcase of the reindeer, it is immediately 

 spread out, and stretched as much as pos- 



