Horses and Horsemastership, 55 



host, until in due time (usually in June or July of the 

 following summer) nature ordains a further change, and 

 the temporary habitat is vacated. It is at this period 

 that the bots are discovered in large numbers in the 

 faeces, and the ignorant person immediately concludes 

 that the horse is suffering from '' worms," and will 

 probably proceed to inflict quite useless and unnecessary 

 doses of medicine, for in a few days all the bots will 

 quit of their own accord, and such as survive the process 

 of removal from the stable to the dung-heap will emerge 

 therefrom in a month or so as perf^ect flies, and ready 

 to fulfil their allotted duties as such. The horsemaster 

 will deduct from the foregoing that one almost infallible 

 sign of an animal having just come off grass is the 

 presence of the gad-fly's eggs on his coat. 



Of the different types of worms, properly so-called, 

 which infest the horse, none is so difficult to exterminate 

 as the tape worm, for the reason that each segment is 

 capable of reproduction. Fortunately, however, this 

 pest is very rarely found to exist. The common worms 

 are three in number, viz. : — (1) The long, round worm, 

 known as the lumbricus, which measures from six to 

 twelve or more inches in length, and is usually found in 

 the small intestines ; (2) the strangulus, measuring from 

 two to four inches ; and (3) the vermicularis, or thread 

 worm. Both the latter are found in the lar^e intestines. 



