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125

wer her purpose. For the performance of this task, Nature has furnished her with a svil im b e of wonderful structure, fixed in the binder part of the 'body. This whimbie is a scaly cylinder, composed of four tubes, which draw out like the pieces of a spying-glass. ,i he last s arnieu w'rtii three hooks. and is thc gimlet which enables this small insect to bore through the tough hides of horned cattle.

`l'he pruicwai European spectes is the O Gad-fly, which is about the size of a common bee, and of a pale yellowish brown, marked wtk dusky streaks. The female, when ready to deposit her eggs, fastens on the back of one

the horned tibe, and, by means of her wh imble, lays an egg in the skin, reneating the same operation on many parts of the animal's back. It may be presumed, from the dread that cattle betray on the approach of this minute enemy, that the pain is acute:

j, their attempt to escape their tor

betaking to some piece of wvc1Prtunity of

tion they are seldom attacked. The egg being hatched, produces an oval maggot, of a yellow ish white, that, as it increases in size, causes swellings beneath the skin of the ox, which enlarge till they are nearly an inch, or more, iii diameter.

When


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