229 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. IV. 



July, August, and September, or as late as eggs appear on the horses, 

 those kept in pastures should be examined once every two or three 

 weeks and the eggs destroyed or removed. This can be accom- 

 plished in several ways. By using washes of dilute carbolic acid, 

 about one part carbolic acid to thirty parts water or, rubbing the 

 affected parts over lightly with kerosene, by clipping the hair or 

 by shaving the eggs off with a sharp knife or razor. Our own 

 experience leads us to prefer the last. With a very sharp knife or 

 razor ( a dull one will glide over the eggs) the affected parts can 

 be very quickly run over without removing much, if any, of the hair. 

 This method leaves no doubt as to whether or not the eggs have 

 been touched, as in washes, and subsequent examinations are not 

 complicated by a lot of dead eggs or shells. Perform once every 

 two weeks, and there can be very few of the larvae which gain 

 entrance to the stomach. Will it pay may naturally be asked by 

 the man who has, say, from twenty-five to a hundred colts in the 

 pasture. Possibly not, if but a single season is considered, but the loss 

 of a single horse, or the poor condition of a number, resultino- from 

 bots, or the fretting of the whole number in pasture, would more than 

 equal all the cost of removing the eggs from the entire lot. But when 

 the presence on the farm of the pest year after year is considered with 

 all its attendant evils, we believe most emphatically that it will 

 pay. 



Quite frequently the flies will be observed at work depositing 

 eggs on the legs or body of a horse at work or in carriage. If not 

 noticed at once, the nervous stamping, biting, or often greater 

 excitement of the horse will apprise the driver of their presence. 

 Although the flies are pretty wary and dart away when approached, 

 a few seconds' watching will enable one, by striking them down to 

 the ground with hand or hat, to capture and kill the fly and thus 

 stop the deposition of eggs and annoyance to the horse. 

 Whether the larvae of this species can mature except upon gaining 

 access to earth seems not to have been determined, and for all 

 the time the horses are in the field or on the road they have ready 

 access to earth. But as some other forms can pupate successfully 

 in the dung heap, it would seem worth while to subject the drop- 

 pings of horses known to contain bots to some process that would 

 destroy them and thus prevent maturity of the fly. 



Remedies for bots. — The prescription of drugs for the removal of bots 

 from the stomach when their presence is known or suspected belongs 

 rather to the veterinarian than to the entomologist, but it may not be out 

 of place here to call attention to a few of them. It is of course not 



