Chapter YII. 



BOTS AND WORMS. 



I am including bets in these notes, simply because 

 they are locked upon by the uninitiated as worms, whereas 

 their presence in the horse is apparently quite harmless, 

 if, indeed, it be not one of nature's mysterious pro- 

 visions out of which positive good may arise. Everyone 

 interested in horses has probably noticed that when a 

 horse is brought in from grass at the end of the summer 

 there is usually found adhering to the hairs of his legs 

 and shoulders, or, indeed, of any part of his body which 

 he can reach with his tongue, a number of yellow atoms, 

 which might easily be mistaken for the seeds of some 

 plant. Tliese are the eggs of the gad-fly, who, in pursuit 

 of her mission in life, has deposited them in such a 

 position as will ensure the tiny grubs, which hatch in 

 the course of a few days, finding their way to their pre- 

 destined winter quarters in the intestines of the horse, 

 who unconsciously assists their transfer thereto by the 

 simple process of licking himself to allay the irritation 

 set up by the flies alighting upon him. Tlie grubs 

 attach themselves to the mucous lining of the intestines 

 by means of tentacles, and obtain sustenance from their 



