90 
WARBLES. 
Horse Warble. ? Hypoderma Loiseti, Loiset; ? Hypodeyina equi ; 
? (Edemagena equi.^' 
During the spring of last year my attention was directed to warble 
attack on horses, by Mr. H. Thompson, M.E.C.V.S., of Aspatria, 
Cumberland, who forwarded me a maggot which he had recently 
taken from a warble on the neck of a horse placed under his charge. 
On making enquiries it appeared that this kind of attack had not 
been generally observed, and also that it is not known with certainty 
what kind of Warble Fly (that is, what species of CEstrus or Hypoderma) 
it is that causes the warble. Therefore, during the past season, I have 
been endeavouring to gain some information as to the nature and 
amount of prevalence of the attack; and, so far as we have 
advanced, the tollowing may be given as an abstract of the observa¬ 
tions with which I have been favoured. 
Warble attack has been noticed either on the living animal or on 
the removed hide at the following localities :—Wigton and Aspatria, 
Cumberland; near Tarporley and near Birkenhead, Cheshire; Here¬ 
ford ; Cirencester; Newport, Mon.; two localities in Cornwall; 
Downton, Hants.; Ely, Cambs.; and Lincoln;—so that the attack 
appears to be pretty generally distributed. 
* The description of the larva given by Dr. Friedrich Brauer (although even in 
this case it is of the maggot before complete development) may be of some service 
in identifying the species in the coming season, and I therefore append it as a note, 
together with references to the authorities quoted by him, which, as far as I am 
aware, are all the published notes on the subject. Dr. Friedrich Brauer writes, in 
his ‘ Monographie der CEstriden ’:— 
“ The larva is oblong, thick, inflated at the forepart, and slightly smaller at the 
hinder part. The mouth is small, edged with a black border, and surrounded with 
prickles, which are scarcely visible to the naked eye. The flrst segment is the 
smallest of all; the flve following increase up to the full breadth; the last five 
lessen considerably. On the under side of the segments it is observable that the 
surface (with the exception of that of the last two) is divided by a transverse 
furrow into two unequal portions; of these each is furnished with a number 
of prickles, of which those on the foremost half of the segments are placed with 
their points directed backwards, and those on the hinder half with their points 
directed forwards. On the last segment there are two horny spiracle plates. On 
the back the larva is nearly bare, excepting a slight amount of prickles on the 
first three segments. The body is white; the prickles dark brown. The skin of 
the larva is transparent. Enlargements at the side of the segments (seiten-wiilste) 
either absent or inconspicuous. Length, 9—10 mm. On the under side of the 
second segment there is a cushion, which serves as a “pseudo-foot.” This is 
probably only a form of side enlargement.” 
“ From the description it will be seen that the larva may be judged to be in the 
second stage, in which it does not appear to show any especial difference from 
