or side, unable to rise. In such circumstances the common Blue-bottle at once attacks it, depositing its ova upon every part of the animal's body, and, no doubt, many sheep are thus annually destroyed; but, whilst the sheep is standing, or lying in its ordinary posture, it is apparently perfectly safe. Not so, however, with the shorn fleece, for no sooner has this been removed from the sheep's back than it is attacked; so with the skin or the meat of the dead animal, but except in the case above mentioned the living animal is never molested. This will appear the more singular when we find that the disease called “scab” is prevalent amongst the flocks in many parts of the Islands, and that sheep infected with this disease often remain undressed for weeks after the pustules have begun to discharge. But for this immunity from attack, there is no doubt that sheep farmers would annually suffer very severe losses. Whether this immunity will continue when sheep are systematically kept upon artificial pastures, has yet to be determined. As an instance of an apparent perversion of the natutal instincts of this oreature, I may mention that it will, under certain circumstances, deposit its ova upon any woollen fabric, even of the finest texture; but it only attacks such articles when lying on the ground or rolled up in a bundle, and so forth. If fairly hung from a line, or spread over a bush, they are perfectly safe. I have often seen hundreds of these flies sitting upon the surface of a blanket thus suspended, without depositing a single egg, whilst below, on one incautiously spread upon the ground by some newly-arrived emigrant, I have seen the ova in masses many inches deep, and covering several square feet, the blanket itself being actually stiffened from the numbers deposited upon it. I once saw one of these flies most diligently attaching its ova to the dry surface of a glass bottle, taken, however, from saddle-bags which had recently been in contact with the sweating side of a horse. It is remarkable, too, that in flight this insect is not known to rise more than six or seven feet from the surface of the ground. So well ascertained is this fact, that upon the sheep and cattle stations in the Middle Island the meat used for food is usually hung in the open air, at a height of nine or ten feet from the ground, and is there deemed to be quite safe from attack, whilst if kept below six or seven feet it is at once blown. It has been stated, too, that the number of these flies is found to diminish whenever the common house-fly appears, and a squatter observing this, and anxious to mitigate the annoyance they caused, once attempted to convey some house-flies from Christchurch to his station on the hills. He succeeded in carrying them as far as an accommodation house, at the end of his first day's journey, but having unthinkingly let them out “to feed,” was unable (as my informant stated) to catch them again. I have not heard whether the attempt was repeated, but its failure in the first instance is to be regretted, as the result of so direct an experiment would have been instructive.