AN AUSTRALIAN PEST

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11418, 15 January 1923, Page 3

AN AUSTRALIAN PEST

SHEEP MAGGOT FLY HEALTH OF ANIMALS AFFECTED. One of the most expensive pests to the farmer in Australia, and particularly in Near South Wales, is the sheep maggot fly, which was the subject of an address delivered by Professor T. Harvey Johnston, of Australia, before the biology section at the Science Congress on Saturday. The pastoral industry, said the lecturer, was penalised to the extent of about one million sterling annually as a result of the attacks upon sheep by various species of blowfly, which were probably first attracted by the presence ‘of soiled wool. Not only was there a considerable direct loss of wool, but also an interference with the general health of affected animals, many of which died from the intensity of infestation. Additional expense was necessary in order to treat fly-blown sheep. The various poisons and methods of applying them were reviewed. The utility of traps was referred to; but their utilisation did not seem to haTe diminished the prevalence of the fly to any appreciable degree. Special attention was paid to the biology of tho flies themselves, and the life stages of the insects. The lecturer also gave an account of his investigations into the life-history of a number of wasp parasites, which attack blowflies during the larval or pupal condition, and dealt with the possibility of utilising certain of them m the campaign against the blowfly pest.

(Details of interesting papers read will be fonnd on page 5 of this morning’s "Times.”]