:W2 DR. J. MUR1E ON A CASK OF MALFORMATION [Dec. 13, 



enclosed insects dead or abortive, when, to my surprise, near mid- 

 day of the 6th of July last two perfect insects came forth nearly 

 simultaneously. 



One of them, however, appeared stronger than the other, and, its 

 wings drying quicker, it prepared to fly off, and only was prevented 

 by the glass cover on the dish ; the other soon after rallied, but did 

 not attain such a complete condition as the first, the wings remain- 

 ing slightly crumpled and less unfolded. I watched their move- 

 ments for a considerable time, and then killed and pinned them out 

 on cork for further reference. 



I bad intended to take them to the British Museum for identifi- 

 cation, and to have them figured, and so laid them aside. Next 

 morning, however, I was horrified to find that a mouse had gained 

 access to the glass case in which they were placed, and broken frag- 

 ments of legs and antennae were all that remained of the two inte- 

 resting specimens. My examination of the insects, however, easily 

 permitted my recognizing in preserved specimens and figures that 

 they were no other than the true (Estrus tarandi. The pupa-case 

 in the above is uncommonly like that of the (Estrus bovis of Clark, 

 as may be seen on comparison with his plate in the ' Linnean Trans- 

 actions ;' but he himself specially calls attention to (Estrus tarandi 

 being larger, and with a longer, narrower, tapering abdomen. 



Linnaeus' s own account of the manner in which the Reindeer are 

 attacked, unfortunately, I have been unable to refer to ; but Mr. 

 Clark emotes passages of his travels in Lapland, where he says the 

 Reindeer crowded in multitudes round the hut at night in an excited 

 condition, owing to fear of these insects. On another occasion, when 

 travelling on a journey, the Reindeer in the team, on the fly alighting 

 on it, suddenly stood still, apparently paralyzed with fear. 



Another curious point connected with the iusects brought forth 

 in the Gardens was, that the moment of their escape from the pupa- 

 case vast numbers of minute white-coloured parasites scampered 

 everywhere over their bodies, and issued in troops out of the case 

 itself. It would seem, therefore, that these Acari infest the insect 

 even before it is hatched. In the present instance there could be no 

 doubt regarding their not being conveyed thither by external agency 

 at the time, as the pupa-cases were in a perfectly clean gallipot 

 covered with glass, and laid apart from every foreign substance likely 

 to contain such creatures. 



14. Account of a Case of Malformation in the Generative 

 Organs of a Cow. By James Murie, M.D., F.G.S., 

 Prosector to the Society. 



Mr. G. Latimer, of Porto Rico, C.M.Z.S., kindly forwarded to us, 

 in September 1805, a young Cow, which presented some peculiari- 

 ties worthy of being recorded. No history of the animal was fur- 

 nished by the donor, further than that the specimen was supposed 



