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or side, unable to rise. In such circumstances the common Blue-bottle at once 

 attacks it, depositing its ova \ipon every part of the animal's body, and, no 

 doubt, many sheep are thus annually destroyed ; but, whilst the sheep is 

 standing, or lying in its ordinary postiire, it is apparently perfectly safe. Not 

 so, however, with the shorn fleece, for no sooner has this been removed from 

 the sheep's back than it is attacked ; so with the skin or the meat of the dead 

 animal, but except in the case above mentioned the living animal is never 

 molested. This will appear the more singular when we find that the disease 

 called " scab " is prevalent amongst the flocks in many parts of the Islands, and 

 that sheep infected with this disease often remain undressed for weeks after 

 the pustules have begun to discliarge. But for this immunity from attack, 

 there is no doubt that sheep farmers would annually sufier very severe losses. 

 Whether this immunity will continue when sheep are systematically kept upon 

 artificial pastures, has yet to be determined. 



As an instance of an apparent perversion of the natuial instincts of this 

 creature, I may mention that it will, under certain circumstances, deposit its 

 ova ujDon any woollen fabric, even of the finest texture ;- but it only attacks 

 such articles when lying on the ground or rolled up in a bundle, and so forth. 

 If fairly hung from a line, or spread over a bush, they are perfectly safe. 

 I have often seen hundreds of these files sitting upon the surface of a blanket 

 thus suspended, without depositing a single egg, whilst below, on one incautiously 

 spread upon the ground by some newly-arrived emigrant, I have seen the ova 

 in masses many inches deep, and covering several square feet, the blanket 

 itself being actually stifiened fi-om the numbers deposited \ipon it. I once saw 

 one of these flies most diligently attaching its ova to the dry surface of a glass 

 bottle, taken, however, from saddle-bags which had recently been in contact 

 with, the sweating side of a horse. 



It is remarkable, too, that in flight this insect is not known to rise more 

 than six or seven feet from the surface of the ground. So well ascertained is 

 this fact, that upon the sheep and cattle stations in the Middle Island the 

 meat used for food is usually hung in the open air, at a height of nine or ten 

 feet from the gTOimd, and is there deemed to be quite safe from attack, whilst 

 if kept below six or seven feet it is at once blown. 



It has been stated, too, that the number of these flies is found to diminish 

 whenever the common house-fly apjjears, and a squatter observing this, and 

 anxious to mitigate the annoyance they caused, once attempted to convey 

 some house-flies from Christchurch to his station on the hills. He succeeded 

 in. carrying them as far as an accommodation house, at the end of his first 

 day's journey, but having unthinkingly let them out "to feed," was unable 

 (as my informant stated) to catch them again. I have not heard whether the 

 attempt was repeated, but its failure in the first instance is to be regretted, as 

 the result of so direct an experiment would have been instructive. 



