XIl] 



ANATOMY AND USE OF TAIL 



163 



briefly how these pests spread disease. A great 

 amount of disease is carried on the feet of flies ; 

 this is not to be wondered at when one realises 

 how flies delight to visit filthy places, and imme- 

 diately afterwards to settle on one's food. 



Dr. MacMurchy, in the Toronto World, 

 rightly says that "few people realise what a 

 serious duty it is to prevent the existence of flies 

 and to destroy utterly the one or two ' winter 

 flies' found in so many houses in the winter 

 months. All garbage must be placed in fly-proof 

 receptacles, and all manure must be removed 

 entirely every two or three days. It takes but 

 eight days for a fly's egg to hatch, and these are 

 deposited by the million." 



The winter flies must be got rid of by leaving 

 in every room and stable one or two sticky fly- 

 reels hanging from the ceiling ; all corners must 

 be swept out in the winter to remove any flies 

 that may be hidden in such places. 



It is acknowledged now that infantile paraly- 

 sis (anterior poliomyelitis) is spread by the stable 

 fly (stomoxys). This fly bites an infected person, 

 and thus conveys the germ to the next person 

 that it bites. 



It seems so foolish for people to leave a few 

 flies about the house all the winter. It is most 

 objectionable to have to sit in such houses. I 

 have found a very large number of such houses, 

 those that usually are kept in a very hot and 

 unhealthy condition. 



The anopheles is the cause of the spread of 

 malarial fever. The mosquito bites an infected 

 human being or animal, and the malaria para- 

 site, which is a protozoon, or one-celled animal 

 (these are known as the haemamoeba masti- 

 gophora protozoa), enters the stomach of the 

 mosquito. In this stomach, and nowhere else, a 

 male (microgamete) and a female (megagamete) 

 unite and reproduce. Here they actually fuse 

 together and bury themselves as one mass, like 

 an egg, in the epithelial coating of the stomach. 

 After a while this egg or ovum divides into a 

 number of little spores, which each, in time, 

 break up into a number of tiny elongated rods. 

 These rods make their way into the salivary 

 glands of the mosquito. When the mosquito, 

 which itself is sick with malarial fever, bites an 

 animal or human being, in order to prevent the 

 blood from coagulating as it passes up into its 

 mouth (and thus choking it), it injects some of 

 its saliva into its victim before commencing to 

 suck. In this way some of the rod-like organ- 

 isms in this saliva gain access to the victim. In 

 their new host they grow into the heemamceba, 

 eventually giving the host malarial fever. 



Fortunately for us, everyone so bitten does 

 not contract malaria, because in most cases the 

 white blood corpuscles (leucocytes) in the blood 

 of the new host devour the invaders. 



641. Other Uses of the Tail. The horse, when 

 at pasture, stands with his back to the rain or 



the cold wind, because he thus protects himself 

 by means of his tail. A docked horse cannot 

 protect his bladder and other vulnerable parts 

 when so exposed to cold and damp. He also uses 

 his tail, as we do our hands, to scratch those 

 parts that he cannot otherwise reach. It is sur- 

 prising how many people with considerable 

 experience are not aware of the fact that the long 

 tail is of use to the horse in making quick turns 

 and in retaining his balance in polo and many 

 military sports, and also in sword fighting. I 

 suppose ignorance of this fact can be put down 

 to the want of minute observation and lack of 

 horse-sense. I have described in detail the use 

 of the tail for brood mares at pasture in Chapter 

 XIII. I was glad to see Farm Life point out the 

 importance of leaving brood mares their tails, 

 and advise owners of docked horses not to turn 

 them out to pasture during the fly season. The 

 other uses of the tail are fully described in the 

 same chapter. 



642. Fly Nets. The excuse that the fly net is 

 all that is necessary for a docked horse is a poor 

 one, and no observant horse lover could possibly 

 believe it. Horse nets are common articles used 

 on well-cared-for, long-tailed horses in Canada, 

 the United States, India, etc., in the fly season. 

 I do not mean to assert that fly nets are of 

 no use on docked horses, but what I mean is 

 that a net in no way takes the place of a tail, 

 particularly as it does not reach in between 

 the thighs, where there is no fly muscle and 

 where the skin is particularly delicate. 



A net on an undocked horse adds decided 

 comfort to the animal. (P. 104e.) It allows 

 him to use his tail posteriorly and relieves him 

 of having to switch it around to either side, 

 which means that the horse can go along more 

 at ease, and will not be describing various figures 

 with its tail when the flies and mosquitoes are 

 abundant. White cotton sheets are often used 

 on farm and heavy draught horses in British 

 Columbia and the great North- West of Canada. 



643. The subject of hogging manes is men- 

 tioned in Section 241. The mane is a valuable 

 weapon of defence against flies, because the fly 

 muscle does not extend to the top of the neck. 

 With the mane the horse has merely to shake his 

 neck from side to side, and the mane will brush 

 away any offending insects ; especially is this 

 necessary at the end of the season, when flies 

 and mosquitoes cling on very securely. A mane 

 four or five inches in length is all that is 

 required. It should be kept thin ; a thin mane 

 is much cooler. (P. 80a.) The panniculus car- 

 nosus, or fly muscle, extends almost to a mane of 

 this length. The forelock serves as a great pro- 

 tection to the eyes, and for this reason should not 

 be cut off. The forelock is a beautiful addition 

 to most horses. (P. 80.) Eye fringes are useful 

 appendages on the bridle for horses that have 

 no forelocks. (P. 104d.) These also protect the 



