IIODERN FARRIEIl. 30 



25. Of Worms. 



Symptoms. — Worms are so common in horses, 

 that very fe^v escape, at some period, of being trou- 

 bled with them. They are usually comprised in 

 two divisions, viz. hots and ascarides. 



Bots are generally found sticking in clusters to 

 the insensible parts of the stomach. They resemble 

 maggots, and are about half an inch in length, and 

 the same in circumference round the thickest part. 

 They are furnished with two sharp feet from one 

 end of their bodies, by which they retain a firm 

 hold ; and as the surface of the stomach where they 

 have taken hold inflames and ulcerates, they pierce 

 still deeper, until, in some instances, they penetrate 

 quite through the stomach. In the months of May 

 or June, they leave their position, and, descending 

 the anus, are carried off with the dung. The insect 

 now remains for some time in the chrysalis state. 

 When the fly comes out, and the female is properly 

 impregnated, she carefully selects a proper subject 

 (for this fly evidently prefers one horse to another), 

 and deposits her eggs on the inside of the fore-legs 

 and some parts of the shoulders. These eggs are 

 very visible, in the form of little yellow nits, which 

 are fastened to the hair with some kind of a gluti- 

 nous substance. Whenever the horse bites his legs, 

 from itching or any other cause, some of these eggs 

 enter the mouth, and pass into the stomach, along 

 with the saliva, where they are hatched and become 

 the bot. It is a most remarkable instance of in- 

 stinct, that the fly never deposits its eggs on any 

 part of the horse which he cannot reach with his 

 mouth. Some wTiters suppose that worms are use- 

 ful and beneficial to horses in many cases ; and Mr. 

 Bracev Clarke, who has p'iven a most accurate and 

 scientific description of the bots, concludes that this 

 animal is th^ natural medium for their propagation. 



