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again seen amongst horses and mules. One mule we had to abandon on the prairie (a disabled foot preventing its travelling any further) was, when we returned for it, so stung by the Breeze-flies as to be one mass of small ichorous ulcers from head to hoofs; so pitiable was the poor beast's plight, its injured limb having precluded all chance of escape from the flies, that, as a mere matter of humanity, it was at once shot. I have also frequently seen tethered horses so injured by the punctures of the Breeze-fly as to be rendered useless for many months. Their favourite places for puncturing are on the front of the chest—where the saddle goes,—and inside the thighs. If a man were tied, or otherwise disabled, so that all chance of beating off or escaping from the Breeze-fly was out of his power, I have no hesitation in asserting my firm conviction that they would rapidly kill him.

The illustration (fig. 1) will give a good idea of the Belted Breeze-fly—a lady charmingly dressed in orange flounced with black, very attractive when you see her sunning herself amid the petals of some prairie flower, but a closer acquaintance destroys the charm, as she soon lets you feel her power of wounding.

Fig. 2 exhibits the proboscis and its armature of six lancets terminated by two large fleshy lip-like lobes, further protected at the sides by the maxillary palpi.

Travelling in Oregon one constantly finds himself on the banks of a wide glassy lake; gazing over its unrippled surface, the eye suddenly rests on what, to the inexperienced in hunter's craft, appears to be small clumps of twisted branches, dead and leafless tree-tops, the trunks of which are hidden in the water; but the Indian or "trapper" discerns in a second that the apparent branches are the antlers of a herd of Wappiti that have been driven into the water by Breeze-flies. Wild cattle seek a like means of protecting themselves against such terrible foes: a perfect forest of horns may frequently be witnessed in a pool, but not a vestige of the bullocks, save their noses, kept above water for the purpose of breathing. Virgil clearly alluded to the Breeze-flies, and not to the Œstridæ, when writing about the Asilus:—

The same thing goes on now as of old: Breeze-flies puncture the toughest hides for blood, and as in the days of Greece and Rome, and, it may be, ages and æons before that, the "universal herd in terror flew" on hearing the shrill blast of the Breeze-fly's trumpet.J. K. Lord, F.Z.S.

I am not aware whether any one has published an account of the mode by which so slow an animal as the Parasitic Anemone contrives to mount on the shell, which forms the house of so active a creature as the Hermit Crab, but I have seen repeatedly how it is done, in the Hamburg Aquarium. So long as the Anemone is associated with the Crab, and is carried about by it, and gets its share of food, it is happy; but when the Hermit changes its shell, and leaves the Anemone behind on the old shell, the Anemone will (unless it is again taken up by another or the same crab) usually loosen its hold from the shell, and lie down on its side on the floor of the tank. Then when a crab—particularly if it be a Hermit Crab—passes within reach of the Anemone's tentacles (which are unusually quick and strong in their action), they grasp any part of the shell, and then the base of the Anemone is quickly turned round and securely fixed, the body being strongly curved so that the hold of the tentacles is not relaxed before the base, or a part of it, is secure. In this way I have seen as many as three Parasitic Anemones attaching themselves in the course of an hour, to the shell of one unusually large and very active Hermit; and I have noticed not less than five fasten themselves by the same manœuvre to the carapace and legs of a Spider Crab–a large Hyasaranea,–and he carried them about for many weeks, and when at last he changed his shell, and left the Anemones behind, sticking to the old left-off and motionless shell, the Anemones, after a time, found him out again and re-attached themselves as before.

If there had been any Hermit Crabs in the same tank, they would, doubtless, have fastened to them, in preference to the Spider Crab. To be carried about by some other animal seems to be an enjoyment to them, and yet I have known them to remain attached to motionless objects tranquilly for five or six months at a stretch, in a tank where Hermit Crabs and Spider Crabs were also contained. A capability of detaching and attaching themselves quickly by the base, seems to be one the special peculiarities of both the Parasitic Anemone and of the Cloak Anemone (Adamsia palliata), and I once saw the latter become free from the shell inhabited by another Hermit Crab (Pagurus Prideauxii), and then become quite and securely fixed to another shell, not less than twelve times in two consecutive hours, as the crab was fidgetty, and changed his shell that number of times, and each time he took his companion Anemone with him, giving it material assistance at every transfer. This has also been observed by Mr. Gosse and by Mr. Holdsworth. In this case (of Adamsia and Prideauxii) the Crab and the Anemone certainly seem to recognize each other; but