20 Mr. W.S. MacLeay on the Estrus of Mr. B. Clark. 
passages, and those all from modern writers,* viz. one from Shakspeare, 
who therein says, that the brize annoys the herd more than the tiger ; one 
from Thomson, who says that when thus annoyed, they scour the plain and 
cut various other unseemly capers; and lastly one from an old play, the 
author of which proposes to plant a brize, by way of spur, into some 
nameless part of some inactive and nameless gentleman. These three 
English passages form a main body of evidence, that, according to Mr. 
Clark, most decidedly prove the (Estrus of Aristotle to be that of Lin- 
nus. I may, therefore, take less notice of the light skirmishers which 
appear on the field to support the same cause, in the shape of passages 
from the Lachesis Lapponica of Linneus, one of which says, that in 
Lapland the (Estrus of the Reindeer has an egg like a white mustard 
seed, and another that the Reindeer stop short and remain motionless on 
the sight of their peculiar tormentor. The appositeness of these quotations 
to the subject in question is not very manifest, but I suppose the mode of 
reasoning from them is as follows: if the egg of the Lapland Cistrus be 
like a white mustard seed, and if the Reindeer in Lapland stop short, ergo 
the (Estrus of Aristotle must be that of Bracy Clark, and the Oxen in 
Greece on being tormented by their (istrus do not stop short. 
Mr. Clark says that Linneus, Vallisneri, Reaumur, and, though last, 
not least, Bracy Clark, hold the opinion that the Gistrus of the ancients 
is the Cistrus bovis of Linneus; and he therefore pronounces Ray, 
Olivier, Latreille, and Kirby to be heretics, nay, even Aristotle, Alian, 
and Pliny themselves to know nothing about the matter, if they have dared 
to write otherwise than as he would have them. It is right, however, for 
Mr. Clark’s glory, to assign him the full force of this argumentum ad 
verecundiam, for Linneus having changed his opinion once with respect 
to the ancient (Estrus, might, if he had lived, have changed it again. 
* Itis true Mr. Clark repeats the hackneyed passage from Virgil, but it is 
for the sole purpose of unfolding from it the following “ curious discovery,” 
which is thus solemnly imparted to the Public, through the medium of the 
Linnean Transactions. Alluding ‘to the words “ Cui nomen Asilo Roma- 
“num est, (stron Graii vertere vocantes;” Mr. Clark says, ‘“* From 
“¢ this admirable description, it is clearly manifest that Asilus was the Roman 
« name for the fly which agitates the cattle; and it is equally clear, that @sétrus 
“ was the Greek name for it,” 
