Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-10-09
2arm and 4louselsuId.
The Horse BOt-FIy.

! As American horses are ali more or
less infested with bots, and rs almost
every one who keeps a horse has a
cure fer bots, we viii give the natural
history Of the insect, and such an ac-
count of its habits as viii enable any
one to see that it is impossible to re-
move the Inaggots without endanger-
ing the life Of the horse; in fact, it is
far easier to kill the horse than the in-
sect.
The bot in its perfect state is two
winged fly of q woody appearance and
tawny color. Ihorax black; prothorax
clothed with yellow hairs; abdomen
variegated with brownish and shining
hairs; eyes black; wings transparent,
with smoky spots; legs long, slender
and spotted. Female with blackish
horny tuJe or 0voipositor at the end Of
the abdomen. In the Summer season
these flies abound in the meadows and
pastures, and the females hove about
horses for the purpose of depOsiting
their eggs. This they do by bending
down the abdomen and attaching an
egg to single hair. The eggs are
covered with glutenous matter that
enables them to adhere slightly. They
are yellOwish, transversely straited,
apparently cut of sIoping at the
larger end, and pointed at the other.
The female has the instinct to deposite
them Oh the shoulders and legs of the
horse, and on those Parts only that can
be reached by the horses mouth when
licking himself. Were they placed on
part of the animal that could not thus
be reached, the eggs or young grubs
c0ald not reach their proper indus, and
would, therefore, be abortive. When
the horse licks himself the eggs are
t00send, or the warm breath and saliva
burst the envelope, and the young
grub or egg is taken into the mouth
and swallowed.
As these eggs are often very numer-
OTIS, hundreds are licked in short
time, and large numbers are of course
taken into the stomach; there they
attach themselves to the inner coat
10y two small hooks and feed upon the
chyle. Their heads are buried in the
circular membrane, and they are often
very close together; in fact, entirely
covering portions of the stomach. So
strong is the attachment that very few
are detached after being immersed in
alcohol for months, thus showing that
even death does not separate them
from their place of growth. When the
grub arrives at maturity it loosens its
hold and passes into the intestines with
the other matter il the stomach, is
voided and changes into a pupa of
horny consistente among the excre-
ments, and then matches fly.
From the foregoing description it
will be seen that medicine capable of
killing the bot must first destroy, or at
least saturate the inner coating of the
horses stomach, and this would affect
the horse more than it would the grub.
Such strong doses would kill, but the
horse would be the first victim, and
besides, what would be the amount of
benefit.
The easiest way'tO kill the bot is to |
curry the horse every morning. The
combing and brushing will remove all
the eggs, and of course no bots will
generate spontaneously in the stomach;
all originate from eggs, and there is no
alternate generation among insects. If
the horse isalways kept in the stable
and well groomed, he will never be
troubled with bots: but if allowed to
run at large, even fo. a single day,
during the time of the fly, he may, and
likely will, have colony in his stom-
ach. If he is covered with cloth or
blanket, it viii partly prevent the lay
ing of eggs by the fly. After all, it is
doubtful if the bot Injuries. Our opin-
ion is that its worst effect is the amount
of nutriment that il absorbs and the
amount of room it takes up in the
stomach OGio Farmer.