622 Prevention of Damage to Hides, etc. [nov. 



be observed in the hide, and this makes it difficult to fix a 

 fair price. 



Generally it may be said that this insect in its various 

 stages must be the cause of a good deal of suffering which, 

 from a humanitarian point of view, it is desirable should be 

 diminished, while at the same time it must occasion a loss of 

 -condition in the cattle. 



It is evident that any attempt to minimise the injury must 

 be made by the farmer, and the Board would urge that every 

 farmer who knows that his stock are troubled with Warble 

 Flies should make a systematic attempt to eradicate the 

 insects. There is good evidence to show that their numbers 

 can be greatly reduced, and the united action of a number of 

 farmers in a district might be expected to be productive of 

 the best results . 



The method suggested involves the frequent, examination 

 of the stock during winter and spring, especially from 

 February to April, and the destruction of the maggots by 

 hand. 



The maggots, when "ripe," may be extracted by squeez- 

 ing the warbles with both thumbs, and may then be 

 squashed under foot. This is a better plan than covering the 

 opening of the warble with grease or mercurial ointment, so 

 as to suffocate the bot within. Alternatively a small amount 

 of arsenic in solution may be inserted into the warble to 

 destroy the maggot. The use of equal parts of Archangel 

 tar and paraffin has also proved successful in Ireland as a 

 means of destroying the warble under the skin. In the case 

 of cattle treated with this mixture, all the warble maggots 

 were found to be dead or shrivelled, and in many cases at 

 least were being worked out of their holes, so that injury 

 to the hide and flesh was reduced to a minimum, while the 

 application did not appear to damage the animal's skin and 

 hair. The mixture should be applied thoroughly at least 

 twice in the season, about the middle or end of April and at 

 the end of May. 



If this practice is systematically followed, it must result in 

 an appreciable reduction in the number of adult flies. Conse- 

 quently fewer eggs will be laid to produce maggots in the 

 following season. The method has been tested in the course 



