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XLVII. Of the Insect called Oistros by the Ancients, and of 

 the true Species intended by them under this Appellation : in 

 reply to the Observations of W. S. MacLeay, Esq., and the 

 French Naturalists. To which is added \ A Description of a 

 new Species o/*Cuterebra. By Bracy Clark, F.L.S., and 

 Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris.* 



TN the 14th volume of the Transactions of the Linnean So- 

 -*■ ciety, is a communication written by my friend W. S. Mac- 

 Leay, Esq., intended to prove that the fly, intitled Oistros by 

 the ancients, was not the insect so named by Linnaeus, but that 

 it probably belonged to the present Linnean genus Tabanus, 



Being of a contrary opinion, I am led once more to address 

 this learned Society, to lay before them the grounds on which 

 it is founded, that naturalists may not incautiously and too 

 hastily adopt the above conclusion, and that they may avoid 

 the confusion which change of names and counter changes al- 

 ways produce in science. I am also led to this undertaking 

 in order to vindicate Linnaeus himself, our great master, and 

 such distinguished naturalists as Vallisneri and Reaumur, with 

 whose views on this subject I wholly concur. Nor is the justi- 

 fication of myself wanting as a motive to induce me to re-ex- 

 amine the subject, having formerly sent to this Society a dis- 

 sertation of some extent on the genus CEstnis, unfolding some 

 curious discoveries in the characters and natural habits of this 

 singular race of insects f . 



Disputations about the meaning of the ancients, and iden- 

 tifying 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 de- 

 sultory and unsatisfactory discussion : practical subjects and 

 didactic facts would perhaps better maintain their reputation. 

 As, however, the Society have in this instance already ad- 

 mitted 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 o'icrTgo$ 

 of the ancients, and the Brize or Breeze of the old English 

 poets, is not the CEstrus of the moderns ; and he infers this 

 from the anatomical characters which some of the ancient au- 

 thors have left us of their insect. Now, besides the anatomi- 

 cal descriptions to be found in the works of philosophers, there 

 is another mode of identifying the insect ; and that is, by the 



* From the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. xv. Part ii. p. 402. 

 f Published in the 3rd volume of the Society's Transactions. 



2 2 description 



