THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 3i5 



and Strongyliy found occasionally not only in the bowels 

 but in the kidneys and coeliac artery of both man and horse. 



The groom always pronounces the symptoms of chronic 

 indigestion to be what he calls " a wormy condition." The 

 consequence is that the most potent "worm-powders," 

 most of them so strong as to imperil the life of the animal, 

 are at once administered, with what result, in hundreds of 

 instances, we need not say. Ignorance, " with the best 

 intentions," is the most charitable verdict. 



Bots. — They are rery frequent in horses that have been 

 at grass, and are in general found adhering to the white 

 insensible tissue or coat of the stomach. 



They usually hang in dense clusters to this white cuti- 

 cular lining of the stomach, and maintain their hold by 

 means of two dark-brown hooks, between which a longi- 

 tudinal slit or fissure is seen, which is the mouth of the 

 larva. When removed from the stomach by the fingers by 

 a sudden jerk, so as not to injure them, they will, if fresh 

 nnd healthy, attach themselves to any loose membrane, and 

 even to the skin of the hand. For this purpose they 

 sheath or draw back the hooks almost entirely within the 

 skin, till the two points come close to each other; they 

 then present them to the membrane, and keeping them 

 parallel till it is pierced through, they expand them in a 

 lateral direction, and afterwards, by bringing the points 

 downwards towards themselves, they include a sufficient 

 piece of the membrane to remain firmly fixed for any 

 length of time as at anchor, without requiring any further 

 exertion. 



These bots, as is also the case with two or three other 

 species, pass the autumn, winter, and spring months in the 

 stomach, and arrive about the commencement or middle of 

 the summer at their full growth, requiring a twelvemonth 

 fully to complete their structure. 



The Fundament Bot. — The part chosen by this insect 

 for the purpose is the lips of the horse, which is very- 

 distressing to the animal from the excessive titillation it 

 occasions ; for he immediately after rubs his mouth against 

 the ground, his fore legs, or sometimes against a tree, with 

 great emotion, till the animal at length, finding this mode 

 of defence insufficient, quits the spot enraged, and endea- 

 vours to avoid it by galloping away to a distant part of 

 the field. And if the fly still continues to follow and tease 



