Zoological Society. 145 



have called this fly Tsal tsalya Kelb, in answer to the word Cynomyia. 

 Salal in the Hebrew signifies * to buzz ' or ' to hum/ and as it were 

 alludes to the noise with which the animal terrifies the cattle ; and 

 Tsal tsalya seems to come from this by only doubling the radicals : 

 t'Tsalalou*, in Amharic, signifies *to pierce with violence/ " — 

 Ajppendixy vii. 284 et seq. 



From this account we learn that it is the sound of this insect which 

 produces a great amount of trepidation in the cattle of Abyssinia. This 

 accords with Bracy Clark' s ideas of (Estrus Bovis. Bruce' s description 

 of the position of the wings clearly indicates a Dipterous insect, and 

 his figure shows a bee-like insect, with a long straight porrected pro- 

 boscis exactly like that of Glossina. Bruce adds, that the insect 

 punctures the thick skin of the camel with its proboscis, the parts 

 attacked breaking out into large bosses, which are also occasionally 

 found upon the rhinoceros and elephant. It will be observed how- 

 ever that Bruce merely supposed these tumours to arise from the 

 attack of the Zimb. 



I think we have suflScient grounds for believing that Bruce has 

 here jumbled together the notion of the buzzing of the Oestrus 

 instiUing dread into a herd of cattle, his knowledge of the piercing 

 powers of the proboscis of the Setse, and his knowledge of the tu- 

 mours caused by the presence of the larvae of (Estri under the skin 

 of the camel f , rhinoceros and elephant. The College of Surgeons 

 possesses a specimen of the larva of the (Estrus of the rhinoceros, 

 and the camel is also subject to the attacks of a species of the same 

 genus ; whilst I consider that Bruce' s figure is made up from memory, 

 taking the statement of its resemblance to a bee and its possession 

 of a proboscis together:}:. No instance, in fact, is known of a spe- 

 cies which attacks these animals with its proboscis, forming tumours 

 upon their backs such as are described by Bruce, which agree on the 

 whole with the tumours caused by the larvae of (Estrus Bovis ; and 

 we have already seen that no (Estrus is capable of inflicting a wound 

 with the organs of the mouth, of which in fact all the known species 

 are destitute, whilst the boring powers of their ovipositors are very 

 questionable. 



The accounts given by Mr. R. Gordon Camming of the destructive 

 powers of the Tsetse fully confirm the opinion here advanced, and 

 prove that although "its bite is certain death to oxen and horses," 

 it causes no dorsal tumours like an (Estrus. "This hunter's scourge," 

 he says, " is similar to a fly in Scotland called Kleg §, but a little 

 smaller ; they are very quick and active, and storm a horse like a 



* *' The name of this fly is undoubtedly derived from a word signifying ' to buzz * 

 in Hehrew and Ethiopic. 



t Pliny was aware of the attacks of (Estri upon the camel, and he informs us 

 that the merchants of Arabia were in the habit of anointing their camels witli 

 whale- and fish-oils. (Hist. Mund. lib. xxxii. p. 302, et lib. xi. cap. 16. p. 36. 

 edit. Pancoucke.) 



I It is evident from the note added by the editor of the 8vo edition, from 

 which the above extracts have been made, that the drawing of the insect was not 

 a bond fide one made on the spot, but was manufactured at home. 



§ Kleg is the local name for the Hcsmatopota pluvialis. 



Ann. &^ Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 2. Vol.x, 10 



