THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 307 



it crawls with great facility by means of its long, curved, 

 bifid claws: the ovipupa is deposited at the roots of the wool 

 close to the skin. 



2. Mr. Cordeaux writes as follows on this Pest : — " The 

 fags are common alike to all our breeds of domestic sheep, 

 and their prevalence in some districts during the present 

 season I attribute, in a great measure, to the scarcity of keep 

 during the past year. When sheep are shrinking, or ill fed, and 

 'doing badly,' these pests increase. They are, when numerous, 

 extremely prejudicial to the welfare and improvement of the 

 animal they infest; constantly irritating and causing the sheep 

 to rub themselves, and to pull out the wool with their mouths 

 (' pluck themselves,' as our shepherds call it) : in fact, they 

 keep the sheep in a perpetual worry, preventing rest, and, 

 consequently, altogether stopping or greatly retarding the 

 fattening or well-doing of the animal. No flock is without 

 them : that they should, however, exist in numbers injurious 

 to the sheep is undoubtedly the fault of the careless farmer 

 or flock-master ; as with proper attention they are easily 

 kept within bounds. My own plan is, as soon as possible 

 after clip time (by which process the elder sheep are pretty 

 well cleared of these vermin), to dip the lambs in some of 

 the various compositions used for this purpose ; and in 

 November to salve the whole flock with mercurial ointment, 

 which is rubbed at intervals in streaks along the skin without 

 smearing the wool. This process not only gradually destroys 

 the fags, but also greatly improves the growth of the fleece 

 and the health of the animal. In a badly-fed and neglected 

 flock the fags increase rapidly." — John Cordeaux; Great 

 Cotes, Ulceby, Lincolnshire, April 12, 1871. 



3. The Bot or Nose-jiy of the Sheep. — The life-history of 

 this fly is well known : its eggs are laid on the inner margin 

 of the sheep's nostril, from a single one to seven or eight in 

 each sheep, and these, on becoming larvae, enter the frontal 

 and maxillary sinuses, and, it is said, even the horns; but of 

 this I am unable to speak from my own observation. I have 

 found many in the frontal sinuses, having obtained the heads 

 from a butcher : they appear to me to feed on the pus caused 

 by the irritation, but, perhaps, also on the healthy secretions. 

 When the larvae are young they are perfectly white and 

 transparent, except two small, black, horny plates: as they 



