214 



ON THE EMASCULATING BOT-FLY. 



{Cuterehra emasculator Fitch.) 



Since the publicatioa by Dr. Fitch iu his Fourth New York Eeport of 

 his long and interesting account of this insect, it has received ]ittle 

 notice from entomologists. Dr. Fitch's article attracted great attention, 

 and the fact that a bot-fly existed which, according to his statements, 

 apparently bred only in the testicles of Chipmunks or Gophers and 

 Squirrels was certainly a remarkable one. Dr. Fitch succeeded in rear- 

 ing but one adult which issued about July 29, 1857, from earth in ajar 

 in which the larva had been placed September 1, 1856. So far as we 

 know this is the only adult of the species which has ever been reared. 



iiip^ 



AVLl^^^^^ 





Fig. 48. — Cuterebra emasculator: a, full-grown larva from above; b, same, from below— enlarged ; 

 c, bead of same ; d, anal end of same ; e, portion of integument of same — still more enlarged (original). 



Dr. Fitch published a painstaking description of the different stages 

 and gave the species the name of Cuterehra emasculator from the larval 

 habit which he supposed characteristic. He mentions the fact that 

 hunters in the vicinity of Lakeville, N. Y., where the first specimen 

 sent him was found, had long been familiar with the fact that at least 

 onehalf of the male gray squirrels shot in that vicinity were found to 

 be castrated, and that it was the opinion of hunters that the deformity 



