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Show 1866.] OESTRUS TARANDI IN A REINDEER. 591 the Platyrrhine Simiar among Quadrumana are each and all, under given circumstances, liable to be attacked by different species of QZstrus, which deposit their eggs upon the hairs, or even within the skin of the body. In Man a number of well-authenticated cases have from time to time occurred, proving that the human body in certain warm countries occasionally furnishes a nidus for some species of this or the allied genus Cuterebus. The term CEstrus hominis has by some been applied to this parasite; but Goudot *, a French writer, considers that the cases of its being found in Man are merely chance instances of the eggs being deposited in the human skin by the species encountered in different animals. M y present note, however, is chiefly intended to call attention to the fact of two larvae being detected in the skins of a Reindeer in this country, and its being an example of one of the many means by which species of insects are carried to distant countries. Two male Reindeers were kindly presented to our Society by II. II. Elder, Esq., on the 1st of June last. They were imported direct from Russia, but possibly may first have come from Lapland. Our Superintendent, Mr. Bartlett, whose powers of acute observation on live animals are well known, detected an unusual appearance on the skin of one of these Reindeer, and, examining it more carefully, found several nodulous excrescences, from which he obtained the two pupae of which the cases are figured below. Desirous of knowing more respecting them, and rightly judging them to be the result of a diseased condition, he brought them to me. Having before seen B A Pupa-case of CEstrus from the Reindeer in Gardens, 1866. Nat. size. A. Dorsal surface. B. Ventral surface with lid removed, where insect escaped. C. Triangular operculum. pupae and larvae of an analogous kind in domestic animals, I knew at once their true nature, and suggested a further search, both for the purpose of ridding the creatures of a painful nuisance, and at the same time of prosecuting the study of the disease. Mr. Bartlett, however, failed in obtaining more specimens, although he noticed the animal's coat to be much pit-marked, apparently where other pupae had lain buried. ' I had the two pupae in m y possession above a week, believing the * Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1845, t. 3-4. p. 227. |