BOTS. 



They are of two kinds, stomach and fundament bots. The stomach 

 bots are the result of turning horses into pasture in the summer months, 

 and are produced from the eggs laid on the fore legs of the horse by the 

 bot fly. 



Symptoms are an unthrifty coat, and loss of flesh after running; out to 

 pasture. 



All horses which van ?"t to 

 grass are quite sure to liave bots 

 in their stomachs, and as there is 

 so much misconception about 

 bots and their destructiveness to 

 horses we copj^ the result of a 

 series of experiments with bots 

 three-fourths grown. 



When immersed in rum they 

 live twenty-five hours ; decoc- 

 tion of tobacco, eleven hours ; 

 strong oil of vitriol, two hours 

 eighteen minutes ; essential oil of 

 mint, two hours five minutes. 

 Were immersed without appar- 

 ent injury, in spirits of camphor, 

 ten hours ; fish oil, forty-nine 

 hours; tincture aloes, ten hours; 

 in brine, ten hours ; solution in- 

 digo, 10 hours. A number of 

 small bots, with one that was full 

 grown, were immersed in a 

 strong solution of corrosive sub- 

 limate, one of the most powerful 

 poisons ; the small ones died in one hour, but the full grown one was taken 

 out of the solution, six hours after its immersion, apparently unhurt. 



It will be seen by the above experiments, that no medicine can be given 

 which will affect the bot, that will not destroy the coating of the stomach, 

 and injure or kill the horse. No veterinary surgeon can distinguish the 

 symptoms of bots from those of colic. In fact, there is but little doubt that 

 ninety-nine out of every one hundred cases of belly ache are no more nor 

 less than colic and not bots, and should be treated as we direct in the 

 treatment of colic. 



Treat inent.— The general condition of the horse should be improved, 

 so that the debilitating effects of the bots may not interfere with the 

 general health of the horse. It is generally considered impossible 



No. 1. 



The female fly about to deposit an egg 



The male fly. 



The egg its natural size. 



The egg magnified. 



The newly hatched bot. 



The bot fully grown. 



The head of a bot magnified. 



The chrysalis. 



