PROTECTION AGAINST FLIES. 347 



Mr. McGavin, M.R.C.V.S., writing on this subject in the 

 Veterinary Record, says : " The best preventive I have found 

 is gutta-percha. After the feet are cleansed with a picker 

 and thoroughly dried, put the gutta-percha (as much as 

 will fill the sole up level with the horse's shoe) into a pan 

 of boiling water for two minutes, or until it is thoroughly 

 softened. Lift it out with a spatula, turning it round for a 

 minute or so till it is dry, place in the sole immediately, 

 dipping your hand in cold water, and squeeze the gutta- 

 percha well into the sole before it cools. Hold the foot up 

 for a few minutes ; afterwards dip it in cold water, when 

 it will harden in a short time and be fit for the road." How- 

 ever well such a stopping might perform its own particular 

 work, its continued retention would, by checking evapora- 

 tion from the sole and frog, soon heat the feet so much, 

 that serious injury might be caused. Besides, the fact of 

 gutta-percha being a bad conductor of heat would make its 

 long retention in the feet all the more dangerous. 



As the growth of the wall of the hoof can be hastened 

 or strengthened only by stimulating the coronet, which 

 secretes it, no hoof ointment, used as such, can effect either of 

 these two ends. 



PROTECTION AGAINST FLIES. 



From June to October, and particularly in August, gadflies 

 or breeze-flies (CEstridae), seek to lay their eggs on convenient 

 parts of horses during the hottest hours of the day. The 

 female flies of the kind that is most common in England, 

 lay their light orange-coloured eggs, which are about the 

 ^th of an inch in diameter, chiefly on the breast, front of the 

 fore-arms, and those parts of the shoulders and sides that 

 are in reach of the horse's tongue. They adhere to the 

 hairs by means of a sticky substance which the fly ejects 

 along with them. The eggs on becoming hatched in about 



