BOTS. These are the larvm of the two-winged dipterous insects, of the family CEstrida, named from the principal genus in the family, Harris says of these: Bot-flies do not seem to have any mouth or proboscis; for although these parts do really exist in them, the opening of the mouth is extremely small, and the proboscis is very short, and is entirely concealed in it, so that these insects, while in the winged state, do not appear to he able to take any nourishment. They somewhat resemble the Syrphians in form and color, and in the large size of their heads; but the eyes are proportionally small, and there is a large space between them. The face is swollen or puffed out before. The antennm are very short, and almost buried in two little holes, close to gether, on the forehead. The winglets are large and entirely cover the poisers. The hind body of the females ends with a conical tube, bent under the body, and used for depositing the eggs, which the insect lays whilst flying (poised). The larvm or young of bot-flies live in various parts of the bodies of animals. They are thick, fleshy, whitish maggots, without feet, tapering towards the head, which is generally armed with two, hooks; and the rings of the body are surrounded_ with rows of smaller hooks or prickles. When they are fully grown, they drop, to the ground and burrow in it a short distance. After this, the skin of the maggot becomes a hard and brownish shell, within which the insect turns to a pupa, and finally to a fly, and comes out by pushing off a little piece like a lid from the small end of the shell. Many farmers suppose that the bot-ffles infesting various animals are all one species. Such, however, is not the fact. More than twenty different kinds of bot-flies are al ready known, and several of them are found in this country. Some of them have been brought here with our domesticated animals from abroad, and have here multiplied and increased. Three of them attack the horse. The large bot-fly of the horse (Gasterophilus equi) has spotted wings. She lays her eggs about his knees ; the small, Red tailed species (G. lurmorrhoidalis) on his lips; and the Brown Farrier Bot-fly (G. veterinus) under his throat, according to Dr. Roland Green. By rubbing and biting the parts where the eggs ai:e laid, the horse gets the maggots into his mouth, and swallows them with his food. 'I he insects then fasten themselves, in elusters, to the inside of his stomach, and live there till they are fully grown. The following are stated to be the symp toms shown by the horse when he is much in fested by these insects. He loses flesh, coughs, eats sparingly, and bites his sides; at length he has a discharge from his nose, and these symp toms are followed by a stiffness of his legs and neck, staggering, difficulty in breathing, convul sions, and death. No sure and safe remedy has yet been found sufficient to remove bots from the stomach of the horse Bracy Clark, who has published some very interesting remarks on the bots of horses and of other animals, maintains that bots are rather beneficial than injurious to the animals they infest. The maggots of the
(Estrus bovis, or Ox Bot-fly, live in large, open boils, sometimes called wornils or wormals, that is, worm-holes, on the backs of cattle. The fly is rather smaller than the Horse Bot-fly, although it comes from a much larger maggott. The Sheep Bot-fly (Cephalemyia ovis) lays its eggs in the nostrils of sheep, and the maggots crawl from thence into the hollows in the bones of the forehead. Deer are also afflicted by bots pecu liar to them. Our native hare, or rabbit, as it is commonly called, sometimes has very large bots, whieh live under the skin of his back. The fly (ffstrus buccatus) is as big as our largest bumble bee, but is not hairy. It is of a reddish-black color; the face and the sides of the hind body are covered with a bluish-white bloom; there are many small black dots on the latter, and six or eight on the face. This fly measures seven eighths of an inch or more in length, and its wings expand about three-quarters of an inch. It is rarely seen. The larvx, when hatched in the stomach of animals, fasten themselves by the hooks or tentacles, and when mature are expelled with the dung of the animal. The bots infest ing horses are the larvae of four species of gad fly. The various' species lay their eggs in the hairs of horses on the breast, shoulders and fore liras. The animal in licking itself swallows the eggs, or else when deposited between the gums, they fall in the food and are swallowed, or else are taken when the animals lick each other. They are hatched, grow, mature aud are expelled. as we have stated, when they burrow in the soil to again transform into the perfect fly. When the bots have once fastened themselves to .the stomaeh and acquired their hard, horny coating, they can not be dislodged, sinee they resist the strongest acids, alkalies, narcotics and mineral poisons. In autumn and early winter they. are yet soft, and if suspected, in numbers sufficient io reduce the animal, give the following vermi fuge : Two drachms' powdered assafcetida, one. and a half drachms powdered savin, one and a half drachms calomel, thirty drops oil of Male Shield Fern. Make into a ball with molasses Follow this at the end of twelve hours with a purge of four drachms of Barbadoes aloes. Or, in lieu of the above, give one-quarter ounce of sulphate of copper, made into a ball, for three. or four mornings in suecession, and follow with, the aloes purge, and repeat at the end of a week,. if neeessary. If the bots produce colic, give four drachms of tobacco, and repeat if necessary, fol lowing with a mild laxative. Say one ounce of rheubarb and one quarter pound of epsom salts. Feed liberally to support the strength of the ani mal. In the summer when the bots are being expelled, this may be aided by a purge of aloes. To prevent the entranee of bots, trim off the• long hairs in which the eggs are attached, or• wash the places infested with soap suds. A daily application of oil will prevent the eggs from being fastened.