226 Forty-second Report on the State Museum. [84] 



tormentors. These, on the other hand, congregate at those points 

 where they can not be easily reached, and the cattle are kept in a 

 state of constant excitement. Judge Forsyth writes : " They live 

 on them day and night and never leave them. My cows have 

 shrunk in cream full one-half ; the milk will not make but little 

 more than half it did before the flies came." This is the primary 

 injury caused. The cows kept in a constant state of annoyance, 

 become poor and fall off in milk ; secondarily, the cow, to get rid of 

 the pests on her horns, and to allay the itching of the punctures at 

 the base, will rub her head and horns against anything convenient 

 to scratch, and inflammation of even a severe character may result — 

 possibly even to the loss of one or both horns. There is no such 

 thing as burrowing into the skin either by the larva or the imago, 

 but the facts, as I have detailed them, are bad enough, since the result 

 is the same, even if common observation has mistaken the actual 

 cause. 



Its Distribution. 



Thus far the fly has been observed infesting cattle in northern Vir- 

 ginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. I have 

 not heard of its presence in New York, but in all probability it is to 

 be found in some of the southeastern counties of the State. 



The statement of its presence in Iowa, made in the Pacific Rural 

 Press of August 3, 1889, and of the injuries inflicted by it, needs verifi- 

 cation — the latter, to the extent stated, of course, can not be 

 accepted. 



The Buffalo fly, or Texan fly, an insect but half as large as the com- 

 mon house-fly, has been killing off the cattle in southeastern Iowa for 

 some weeks past. A dispatch from Burlington states that the pests 

 have caused the loss of several herds in that vicinity. They attack 

 the cows at the base of the horns, and after a few days the horns 

 come off. In another day the cow dies. Many beasts are suffering 

 in a similar manner, and there has not been any remedy discovered 

 that will effectually destroy the fly. 



Preventives and Remedies. 



It is believed that this new pest will not prove to be a difficult insect 

 to control. There are several applications much less objectionable 

 than tar that can be used for keeping the flies from alighting on the 

 animal, or at least from remaining long enough to puncture the skin 

 or be an annoyance otherwise. Crude kerosene oil, it is claimed, will 

 accomplish this, without harm to the animal. The Division of Entomol- 

 ogy at Washington has recommended the following: (1) Fish-oil 

 and fine tar with a little sulphur added; (2) tobacco dust when the 

 skin is not broken; (3) tallow and a small amount of carbolic acid. 



Some oil mixed with " soluble phenyle " or almost any one of the 

 popular " sheep-dips," properly applied, should prove efficient. 



