176 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



bodies are often hairy and ornamented with bands of various 

 colours, the wings very strong, and the mouth nearly obso- 

 lete. The habits of these little creatures are very remark- 

 able, each species being confined to its own peculiar qua- 

 druped, the horse, the ass, ox, etc. The larvae reside either 

 in the stomach, or beneath the skin of cattle, which seem to 

 possess an instinctive dread of the presence of this insect, 

 which is the more singular as it inflicts no pain, merely 

 gluing its eggs to the hair. The larvae when hatched 

 burrow into the poor animal's back, gradually forming a 

 protuberance of more than an inch in diameter, within 

 which they live until attaining maturity. It is a curious 

 fact that their spiracles, or breathing pores, are placed, not 

 as usual on the sides, but at the extremity of the body, 

 in order, as it would seem, to avoid the necessity of having 

 a large orifice in the protuberance, which would interfere 

 with the comfort of its temporary inhabitant. The (Estrus 

 of the sheep is small, and of a greyish colour ; it places its 

 eggs in the nostrils of that animal, whence the larvae ascends 

 into the head, and, when full-grown, falls down and assumes 

 the pupa state on the ground. 



