562 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK vi. 



Warbles are best disposed of by puncturing the sac in which the 

 grub is contained with a needle moistened with a little mercurial 

 ointment, or the grubs may be squeezed out in the spring-time and 

 destroyed. To prevent cattle being attacked the backs should be 

 lightly smeared over with a solution of oil of tar and assafcetida. 



We are indebted to Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, for the follow- 



Fig. 143. -Warbled Hide. 



View of under surface (about half size). 



ing details : The Ox Warble Fly, or Bot Fly, is a two-winged 

 fly, upwards of half an inch in length, so banded and marked with 

 differently-coloured hair as to be not unlike a humble bee. The face 

 is yellowish ; the body between the wings yellowish before and black 

 behind : and the abdomen whitish at the base, black in the middle, and 

 orange at the tip. The head is large, the wings are brown, and the 

 legs black or pitchy, with lighter feet. The female is furnished with 

 a long egg-laying tube ; but whether she inserts her eggs into the hide, 

 or lays them on it, has not been made out with certainty. Egg-laying 

 takes place during the summer ,- it may begin in the month of May, but 

 the time varies with the weatner, with the position of the pastures, and 

 other circumstances. The egg is oval and white, with a small brownish 



