356 Mr. W. S. MacLeay on the Insect 



and taon, are all the same insect, his description of which proves 

 it to be no other than the Hcematopota pliivialis, for which the 

 Clegg remains to this day the well-known and appropriate 

 provincial name — a name totally inapplicable to the modern 

 (Estrus. 



I have before said, that Aristotle makes it quite evident that 

 his oia-T^og and fAvaip were very nearly of the same construction. 

 So near indeed in affinity do they appear to have been, that 

 jEschylus would seem to consider them as identical in his Pro- 

 metheus vinctus. From this poet we learn, that they are o^va-rofjt^ot, 

 and pierce the skin. lo says, 



TIctgixoTrov cuSe Tslpet; ; " 



In short, wherever the {^va-^ is distinguished from the o'/a-r^os, I 

 take the former to be either a Chrysops or Hcematopota* y or 

 some insect near to them, and the latter to be some species of 

 the modern genus Tabanus, probably the Tabanus bovinus Linn, 

 or dun-fly, whose power of agitating cattle I have myself had 

 occasion to witness. This last insect certainly appears to be the 

 Asilus and (Estrus of Virgil. That this poet's insect cannot be 

 identical with any modern (Estrus is clear from his describing it 

 to be in great plenty, and to be " acerba sonans." Now the 

 (Estrus bovis is very rare every where ; and, according to Mr. 

 B. Clark, makes no noise. The (Estrus equi is also silent in 

 flying, as I have repeatedly myself observed. So that neither of 

 these insects can be that which is celebrated by Virgil, whose 

 description of the ability of the ancient oia-r^o? to make a particu- 

 lar kind of humming noise is corroborated by the Scholiast before 

 mentioned as well as by ^lian. 



* One circumstance which is mentioned by jElian respecting the Mi/ops, namely, 

 that it makes a louder hum than the CEstrus, is perhaps against its identity with the 

 modern genus Hamatopota. 



Messrs. 



