Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-02-23

=
penetrate the flesh, causing small tumors
and sores. The grubs feed upon the flesh
of tho animals, and grow until they arc
nearly or quite an inch long, and during
the fall or early part Of winter they cease
feeding, and are transformed into pup@,
the latter remaining in the tumors during
winter, and the image or perfect fly
emerging in spring. These pupR OF the
OK bot fly are what several Of our SUBJ
scribers have referred to of late under the
name of "wolf'' in cattle, u rather singu-
lar name to apply to fly in one stage OF
its existence; but there is no accounting
for the vulgar local names of such things,
and wolf seems to he favorite among
farmers. The larvae OF little grain wee
vii which is found in barns is called
"wolf," and the imaginary disease which
is supposed to cause cows tails to become
hollow is known us 'wolf in the tail !"
then we have "wolf teeth" n colts,
another imaginary disease or cause OF
blindness-in fact this wolf is terrible
creature, turning up in various forms, or
whenever the farmer neglects to take
proper care of his stock.
The OK bot fly attacks young stock more
frequently than old, aud we presume the
same instinct which guides the female fly
to deposit her eggs upon the back, where
she can do it with greater safety to herself
than on otherparts of the body, also leads
her to Young animals whose Gu dal APP
pendage is not sufficiently developed to be
4 very formidable weapon in warding oil
such enemies. Those farmers who may
think the long hairs on their cows tails OF
no particular use except to switch the milk
maid in the face, or flop into the milk-pail
during ihe process Of milking, would DO
well TO watch "old bos' in one of her bat
ties with bot and other kinds of annoying
species of flies, and see how skilllully she
uses the weapons nature has provided for
this purpose. Cattle will also resort to
bushes in order to rid themselves Of these
pests, and rub their backs against the low
er branches of trees to kill the eggs and
young, newly Matched grubs if such means
of defense are provided. But there are
| thousands OF farmers who will neither
permit shade or shelter for their stock, as
suming to know what is best for their
health and comfort, although the poor,
sickly, worm eaten animals are fearful
witnesses against such presumption.
THE HORSE BOT FLY.
The female of this lily is well known to
most farmers, as she is usually seen dart
ing about the legs Of horses in summer,
her long slender abdomen curved upward
| while seeking place to deposit an egg.
The eggs are generally deposited upon the
hairs of the fore legs, where they can be
most readily reached by the animals lips
instinct teaching the insect that if they
| were deposited upon the hairs of the tall,
hind legs, or back, few if any would ever
reach their destination, which is the
| horses stomach, where they become what
are known as bots. The eggs remain at
tached to the hairs, and the grubs hatch in
| about twenty days, but do not leave the
shell until the horse happens to lick or
| bite his legs, and thus the Larvae are af-
| torded an opportunity of leaving the hairs
and are conveyed into the animals stOm-
ach, where they find both the food and
heat necessary .or their wants. Here they
remain attached to the inner membrane Of
the stomach until the period arrives for
them to become pupR, when they let 60
their hold, pass through the intestinal
canal, and are deposited in the manure
heap or elsewhere. 1t is claimed by some
authors that the larva passes the animal
and spends its pGpa stage iii the ground
But we have frequently found pup9 in an
advanced stage in the freshly dropped eX-
crement; hence there may be some varia-
tons in the time OF the appearance OF tn e
insect in the outer world.
| A PREVENTIVE,
All that is necessary to prevent horses
| being troubled with bots is to keep their
hair clear OF bot eggs. This Is readily
done by scraping them off with a knife, or
washing with some liquid that wild soften
the giue-like substance by which they are
attached 10 the hairs.
THE SHEEP BOT FLY.
This is much smaller species than
those injecting the OK or horse, but none
the less formidable or injurious. The fe-
male, like some other kinds of flies, re-
tains her eggs in the oviduct until they
| hatch at least she has been known to do
| so, and instead of deposiliGg eggs on the
nostrils of sheep, lays there minUe mag
| gots, which Immediately crawl upward.
| These Larvae or maggots ncmain within
| the nostrils nearly or quite year, and
cause grca Inflammation, resulting in a
| disease known by farmers as " grub in
| the head" During the fly season" 1t
| would be well to frequently examine the
sheep and remove the maggots before
| they have assembled out of reach. We
might continue these brief sketches of the
habits of insects injurious to animals, al
most without limit, but the above will
suffice to show our readers that the orr
gin of few of the diseases affecting farm
stock is not entirely enveloped in mystery.
N. y. Sun.