246 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



Bombus virginicus, Oliv. 



" separatus, Cresson. 



" Ridingsii, " 



" vagans, Smith. 



" consimilis, Cresson. 



" affinis, " 



" perplexus, " 



" borealis, Kirby. 



" fervidus, Fabr. 



" Pennsylvanicus, DeGeer. 



" terricola, Kirby. 



" Couperi, Cresson, (Labrador.) 



" strenuus, " 



" lacustris, " 



" ternarius, Say. 



" praticola, Kirby. 



" Derhamellus, Kirby. 

 Apis mellifica, Smith. 

 The following species are said to occur in 

 Canada : — 



Nomada punctata, Fabr- 



" armata, Cess. (Nova Scotia.) 

 Ccelioxys funeraria, Smith. 

 Bombus hortorum, Linn. (Lake Winnipeg.) 



" Kirbiellus, Curtis. 



" polaris, " 



A DESTRUCTIVE TWO-WINGED FLY. 



A few years ago, the late Benjamin Walsh 

 published in the American Entomologist, some 

 interesting remarks on the internal and ex- 

 ternal parasites which were known to him to 

 attack man on this continent. Since then we 

 have to record the occurrence of an insect 

 belonging to the order Diptera or two-winged 

 flies, which is said to deposit its eggs in the 

 nostrils of man, especially when he is troubled 

 with catarrh. The fly is said to occur in Canada. 

 Maggots of this fly are called " Screw Svorms " 

 in Kansas, where it is known to attack horses 

 and cattle, but lately positive evidence has 

 been produced to show that it also lays its 

 eggs in the nostrils of man when it finds him 

 asleep in woods or field. There are circum- 

 stances connected with the economy of many 

 of our small insects which will take us a 

 long time to discover. A tree flourishes and 

 produces fruit for a time, but the moment 

 decay is indicated in its trunk, insect para- 

 sites appear and in a few years it falls and be- 



comes amalgamated with the earth from 

 which it sprang. This is also the case with the 

 human body, the moment that disease attack 

 a portion of it, parasites are hovering near the 

 spot. Therefore it behoves us to study clean- 

 liness especially in regard to the nostrils. 



We copy the following account of the homi- 

 nivorous habits of the fly by F. H. Snow, 

 Lawrence, Kansas, published in " Psyche " 

 for March-April, 1883. There is one thing 

 missing, that is, a good illustration of the 

 horrid fly. 



The Professor says : — 



" I have from time to time had occasion to 

 note the depredations of the screw-worm upon' 

 horses and cattle in this state, but until re- 

 cently have not received positive evidence of 

 its attacks upon human subjects in any loca- 

 lity so far north as Kansas. But early in Sep- 

 tember, 1882, I received from Mr. S. D. 

 Osborn, the postmaster at Varck, in South- 

 eastern Kansas, specimens " of the worms 

 which came from the nostrils of Milton Carter." 

 These proved to be the larvae of Lucilia mu- 

 cellaria Fab., the so called " screw- worm. " 

 Upon further inquiry I learned that upwards 

 of one hundred full-grown maggots escaped 

 from the nose of this patient, who Anally reco- 

 vered from the serious illness consequent upon 

 their ravages. I also ascertained that Mr. 

 Carter had long been afflicted with an offensive 

 nasal catarrh, which made his nostrils an at- 

 tractive place for the oviposition of the fly, 

 and that he had fallen asleep in the woods in 

 the day-time only a few days before the first 

 appearance of the symptoms produced by the 

 presence of the larvae. 



" Several other instances of the attacks of 

 Lucilia upon man soon came to my knowledge, 

 most of which led to fatal results. Among 

 these I will select the case attended by Dr. J. 

 B. Britton, of Mapleton, in southeastern Kan- 

 sas, who reported it in full at the session of 

 the Southeast Kansas District Medical Society 

 in January 1883. From this report I condense 

 the following account; "On the evening of 

 August 22d, 1882, Mr. M. E. Hudson com- 

 plained of a peculiar sensation at the base of 

 the nose and along the orbital processes, 

 which was first followed by inordinate 

 sneezing, and later by a most excruciating 

 pain over the os frontis, also involving the 

 left superior maxillary. This patient also had 



