Zoological Miscellany. 



143 



Botys penitaus Grote. — The magnificent group of 

 "Lotus" (Nelumbo ?ielumbo) at Spring Grove cemetery was 

 completely riddled and destroyed by this moth during the 

 summer of 1897. I reared quantities of them from larvae 

 found in the stems of these plants. None of these larvae 

 seemed to be parasitized. This year the nelumbo has not 

 come up at all, being entirely killed. — Charles Dury. 



" Squirrel Bot Fly" (Cuterebra emasculator). — There is 

 a legend, firmly believed by the old squirrel hunters of the 

 Miami valleys, that the old male squirrels attack the young 

 males and castrate them with their teeth. This legend was 

 doubtless inspired by the fact that occasionally a male squirrel 

 was found in which the testes were absent. This is the work 

 of this " Bot fly," which deposits its eggs at the back of the 

 scrotum of the squirrel. The egg hatches into a maggot 

 that eats its way into the testes, and causes the destruction 

 of one or both of these organs.— Charles Dury. 



Parasites on the Common Rabbit (Lepus sylvaticus 

 Bach.). —While hunting in Bracken County, Kentucky, during 

 November and December, 1897, an examination was made of 

 many of this species that were killed, and it was found that 

 about fifty per cent were affected with internal parasites of 

 several species, the most common being tape worms (Cillo- 

 taenia) of two forms. There were also smaller thread-like 

 worms (Sarcocyslis) and cyst-like bodies (probably hydatid 

 cysts). The rabbits were fat, in fine condition, and appar- 

 ently healthy. Some had been victims of the Rabbit Bot Fly 

 (Culerebra) earlier in the summer, but the fly had gone, and 

 the animal had recovered from these attacks, as nothing 

 remained but the cicatrix. I do not know of any animal that 

 is so fearfully persecuted by parasites as these rabbits. The 

 statement often heard that rabbits are not fit for food until 

 after frost, is, no doubt, due to the frequency of the presence 

 of the Bot fly larvae and other parasites. While these Bot fly 

 larvae become full fed, and go through their transformations 

 before frost, the statement is partly correct, but, in regard to 

 the internal worms, it is not so, as they are present through- 

 out the year. — Charles Dury. 



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