On the Insect called Oistros by the Ancients. 403 
coveries in the characters and natural habits of this singular 
race of insects *. 
Disputations about the meaning of the ancients, and identi- 
fying their descriptions with the modern species of natural 
history, would perhaps, in a general way, be better avoided in 
the valuable volumes of this Society, as leading to much desul- 
tory and unsatisfactory discussion : practical subjects and didac- 
tic facts would perhaps better maintain their reputation. As, 
however, the Society have in this instance already admitted the 
discussion, it is but fair and just to allow the reply in the same 
channel, that the impression, if erroneous, may be removed. 
W.S. MacLeay, in the paper alluded to, insists that the oiergo¢ 
of the ancients, and the Brize or Breeze of the old English poets, 
is not the Œstrus of the moderns; and he infers this from the 
anatomical characters which some of the ancient authors have 
left us of their insect. Now, besides the anatomical descriptions 
to be found in the works of philosophers, there is another mode 
of identifying the insect; and that is, by the description of the 
effects it produces upon cattle, and which are so singular, that 
they have afforded incidents to most rural poets, ancient and 
modern: and the truth seems to be, that the poets in describing 
these effects have been true to nature; while the philosophers, 
being presented with a wrong insect, have only involved the 
subject in error. 
That it is an Italian insect we have the authority of Valli- 
sneri of Padua, who appears to have been the first naturalist 
who bred the true Œstrus Bovis from the grubs found in the- 
backs of the cattle; and for the first time, as far as we possess 
any record of the subject, saw with certainty the identical object 
that created so much commotion among them. He applied 
* Published in the 3rd volume of the Society's Transactions. 
correctly 
