10 
hill-tops), and commonly fly high on 
sunny days and in warm sunny weather ; 
the process of egg-laying may be seen 
going forwards on horses feeding on com¬ 
mons or in the fields, but it is stated never 
to take place on animals when in the 
stable. 
The female “Horse Bee” hovers for 
some little time by the animal until she 
has made up her mind exactly where the 
egg is to be laid; then, darting down on 
the spot, she leaves the egg fixed to the 
hair by means of a kind of glutinous 
moisture ; and so she continues until her 
whole stock is laid. 
The inside of the knee, the shoulders, 
and the hair of the mane are especially 
favourite places lor egg-lajung, and as mag. 
many as four or five hundred are stated 
to be laid on one horse. 
The eggs are only about the eighth of an inch in 
length, and are less in width, white, and spindle-shaped, 
or rather they are pointed at one end, and truncated 
obliquely at the other, and are fastened by the small end 
to the hair, the truncated end being lowest. In about 
five days (it is stated) they are ready to hatch, and then, 
if the horse (or another horse) licks the spot, the effect 
of the warmth and the moisture of the tongue causes 
the egg to be thrown open, and the maggot, which is 
produced from within, adheres to the tongue, and is thus 
conveyed into the mouth, and passes on to the stomach, 
where it establishes itself. 
From other published observations it appears likely, 
if not quite proved, that where the maggots are not thus 
transported into the animal that they creep from the egg 
and drag themselves through the hair till they enter (or 
are licked into) the mouth. 
But in whatever way they may arrive, when there they 
attach themselves to the stomach, where they hang 
