BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



[20] 



Fig. 26.— The Sheep Bot (CEstrvs ovis). 1, 2, flies; 

 3, pupariuni; 4, 5, and 6, larvae or bots. 



or less completely connected witli, the hardened and shrnnken skin of 

 the larva. 



"The most anomalous of the Diptera are the Forest-tlies and Sheep- 

 ticks {Hippohoscidw). They have a horny and flattened body, and 

 resemble lice in their parasitic habits, living beneath the hair of bats 

 and birds. Their mode of development has always attracted the atten- 

 tion of entomologists. The larvse 

 are hatched in the abodmen of the 

 female, which is capable of disten- 

 tion. There it remains and, after 

 assuming the pupa state, is dexjos- 

 ited in the form of a short, white, 

 egg-like object, without trace of ar- 

 ticulation, and nearly as large as 

 the abdomen of the female fly. 

 Closely allied to these are the Bat- 

 ticks (Nyeterihida'), which possess 

 neither wings nor balancers, and 

 remind one strongly of spiders. 

 "In this order we may also x)lace 

 certain wingless lice (such as Braula caeca, Mtzsch), which infests the 

 Honey-bee in Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, but which 

 has not yet been detected in this country. 



"Suborder Aphaniptbra {awavvjg, inconspicuous; Trrepov, wing) or 

 Fleas, comprising the sin- 

 gle family Pulicidae, now 

 placed with the Diptera. 

 Everybody is supposed to 

 be familiar with the ap- 

 pearance of the Flea — its 

 bloodthirsty propensities 

 and amazing muscular 

 power; and while every- 

 one may not have the 

 leisure and means to ex- 

 perience the exhilarating 

 influence of the chase after larger animals, there is no one — be he never 

 so humble — who may not indulge in the hunt after this smaller game ! 

 In place of wings the flea has four small, scaly plates. The minute 

 eggs — about a dozen to each female — are laid in obscure places, such 

 as the cracks of a floor, the hair of rugs, etc., and the larva is worm- 

 like and feeds upon whatever animal matter — as grease and blood — or 

 decaying vegetable matter it can find. 



Fig. 27. ■ 



-A Flea (Fulex) . 



(From Packard.) 



