INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 119 



particular district in India in so tremendous a manner as to 

 cause incurable cancers, which finally destroy them.^ — But 

 of all the insect tormentors of these useful creatures, there 

 is none more trying to them than the forest-fly (Hippohosca 

 equina). Attaching themselves to the parts least covered 

 with hair, particularly under the belly between the hind legs, 

 they irritate the quietest horse, and make him kick so as 

 often to hazard the safety of his rider or driver. This sin- 

 gular animal runs sideways or backwards like a crab ; and, 

 being furnished with an unusual number of claws, it adheres 

 so firmly that it is not easy to take it off ; and even if you 

 succeed in this, its substance is so hard, that by the utmost 

 pressure of your finger and thumb it is difficult to kill it ; 

 and if you let it go with life, it will immediately return to 

 the charge. — Amongst the insect plagues of horses, I should 

 also have enumerated the larva of Lixus paraplecticus, which 

 Linne considers as the cause of the equine disease called in 

 Sweden, after the Phellandriitm aquaticum, " Stdkra,^^ had 

 not the observations of the accurate De Geer rendered it 

 doubtful whether the insect be at all connected with this 

 malady.^ 



Another quadruped contributing greatly to our domestic 

 comfort, from which we derive a considerable portion of our 

 animal food, and which, on account of its patient and laborious 

 character when employed in agriculture, is an excellent sub- 

 stitute for the horse, (you will directly perceive I am speaking 

 of the ox, whether male or female,) is also not exempt from 

 insect domination. At certain seasons the whole terrified 

 herd, with their tails in the air, or turned upon their backs, 

 or stiffly stretched out in the direction of the spine, gallop 

 about their pastures, making the country re-echo with their 

 lowings, and finding no rest till they get into the water. 

 Their appearance and motions are at this time so grotesque, 

 clumsy, and seemingly unnatural, that we are tempted rather 

 to laugh at the poor beasts than to pity them, though evi- 

 dently in a situation of great terror and distress. The cause of 

 all this agitation and restlessness is a small gad- or l)ot-fly ( (E. 



I Life of General Thomas, 186. 



'■i Linn. It Scand. 182. De Gcer, v. 227—250. 



I 4 



