5 
Fly they gallop with the tail straight out, and that when the 
tail is carried upright the Gad Fly is the aggressor. After 
galloping with tail aloft, an ox was caught, and a fly, pre¬ 
sumably a Gad Fly, was found attached to the brisket of the 
animal. The Warble Fly is sometimes erroneously called the 
Gad Fly ; but the real Gad Fly has nothing to do with 
warbles. The Warble Fly is blamed for a great amount of 
the galloping, &c., of cattle, when the Gad Fly is the real 
offender. The sole object of the Warble Fly in attacking 
cattle is to lay its eggs ; whereas the Gad Fly attacks them 
to suck blood, for which purpose it thrusts sharp lancets into 
the skin. It is also sometimes called the Breeze Fly. 
Cattle of the age of one or two years are most subject to 
attack. Badly fed and kept animals are more often attacked 
than those which are well fed and cared for. The infliction 
takes greater effect on a young growing animal than upon 
one which is older and fuller in condition. Bulls are very 
subject to them ; very likely because they are often fastened 
and have no means of freeing themselves from the fly in 
summer, and in winter are neglected and have no attention 
paid to the state of their backs. The Shorthorn seems more 
liable to attack than other classes of cattle, no doubt because 
of its thin hide, the Welsh and Scotch breeds having hides 
almost twice as thick. 
Mr. D. Turvill, Hants, took half a number of bullocks 
which had grazed together, and fed them in stalls for fatten¬ 
ing, while the other half were left out in an open yard as 
stores. In January and February not a single warble could 
be found in the stalled animals, while not one of the stores 
was free of them. 
The back, sides, and loins, and top of shoulder blade, are 
the places most subject to attack. Mr. J. Dalton, Wigton, has 
many times in spring noticed hides taken from two-year-old 
bullocks where the back has been one mass of sores, caused 
by the Warble Maggot, the discoloured blood and matter 
showing how intense has been the inflammation. The insect 
probably chooses those parts of the animal for depositing its 
eggs because there it is the least likely to be disturbed by the 
animal switching its tail, or by licking or rubbing the place. 
Probably its instinct also prompts it to oviposit there. The 
