CHAPTER XVII 



INSECTS AND INSECT-LIKE ANIMALS ATTACKING 

 STOCK AND POULTRY 



LIVESTOCK, including poultry, forms one of our most valuable 

 assets. Milk supply and beef production fall off frequently, 

 through insect attack, and the egg supply and health of chickens 

 are largely dependent upon the absence of vermin in the hen- 

 house and nests. This chapter deals with the pests directly 

 concerned with these conditions. 



The Horse Bot-Fly. One of the most interesting and most 

 injurious of insects is the horse bot-fly (Gastrophilus equi Fab.). 



FIG 320. Bot-fly of horse, much enlarged. (Lugger.) 



The female lays from four hundred to five hundred eggs, all of 

 which may be placed, under favorable circumstances, upon one 

 horse. These eggs are fastened to the hairs, generally of the fore- 

 legs, shoulders, or chest. A horse instinctively fears this pest 

 and will often be seen when in the pasture, to start and strike with 

 the fore-feet, although the cause of its nervousness is not visible. 

 The adult fly is brownish, more or less hairy, and looks a little 

 like a small honey bee (Fig. 320). It is most skilful in depositing 

 its yellowish eggs, or "nits" as we sometimes call them, on the 

 animal's hairs (Fig. 321). 

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