176 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



bodies are often liairy and ornamented with bands of various 

 colours, the wings very strong, and the mouth nearly ob- 

 solete. The habits of these little creatures are very remark- 

 able, each species being confined to its own peculiar quadru- 

 ped, the horse, the ass, ox, etc. The larvae reside either in 

 the stomach, or beneath the skin of cattle, which seem to 

 possess an instinctive dread of the presence of this insect, 

 which is the more singular as it inflicts no pain, merely 

 gluing its eggs to the hair. The larvse when hatched 

 burrow into the poor animaFs back, gradually forming a 

 protuberance of more than an inch in diameter, within 

 which they live until attaining maturity. It is a curious 

 fact that their spiracles, or breathing pores, are placed, not 

 as usual on the sides, but at the extremity of the body, 

 in order, as it would seem, to avoid the necessity of 

 having a large orifice in the protuberance, which would in- 

 terfere with the comfort of its temporary inhabitant. The 

 (Estrus of the sheep is small, and of a greyish colour; it 

 places its eggs in the nostrils of that animal, whence the 

 larva ascends into head, and, when full-grown, falls down 

 and assumes the pupa state on the ground. 



