as connected with the Hieroglyphics of Egypt. 1 75 



it for the figure of a bee, for Bruce, who had given the descrip- 

 tion and the drawing of it, openly asserts that it resembles 

 the genus of the bee very much. 



But here it may be asked, what sort of insect this Zimb is? 

 To what class, to what genus, to what species does it belong ? 

 Is it to be found in different parts of the world, or is it exclu- 

 sively confined to Egypt? To these questions I answer, that 

 this insect belongs to the order of the Diptera ; it is a sort of 

 gad-fly, or rather an undescribed species of the CEstrus, con- 

 fined to the black fat land of the marshy grounds round the 

 Nile, and was known to the ancient Greeks by the appella- 

 tion of xwofjiutu, a translation of the Egyptian name of an 

 ouhor, which means ' a dog's fly.' 



In order to establish this opinion, I have to observe, that 

 the first who gave the description of this insect was Bruce. 

 " In its size," he says, " it is very little larger than a bee, the 

 genus of which it resembles very much, though its proportions 

 are thicker, with wings more broad, but placed separate like 

 those of a fly. These wings are of a pure gauze, without co- 

 lour or spot. The head is large ; the upper jaw is sharp, and 

 has at the end of it a strong pointed hair of about a quarter of 

 an inch long. The lower jaw has two of these pointed hairs ; 

 and this pencil of hairs, when joined together, makes a re- 

 sistance to the finger nearly equal to that of a strong hog's 

 bristle. Its legs are serrated inside, and the whole is covered 

 with brown hair or down. It has no sling." 



From this description it is evident that this insect belongs 

 to a species not known in Europe : for it has several of the 

 properties of the Bombylius, the Tabanus, the CEstrus and 

 the Hippobosca, without belonging to any of them. In some 

 of its generic and even specific characters it is like the Bom- 

 bylius and the CEstrus, in others like the Hippobosca and the 

 Muscidce; in a few like the Tabanus and the Dog-fly, whilst 

 in the aggregate it differs from every one of these insects. 

 Mr. Bruce says that it resembles very much the genus of a bee ; 

 but this is a mistake. It may be so in appearance, but it is 

 not so in reality. The bee has four wings, and the figure 

 which he has published of his Zimb has only two, though it 

 cannot be denied that in appearance, as far as the form of its 

 body goes, it may resemble the bee, and might be mistaken 

 for it, yet it has no sting. 



The Zimb, in fact, belongs to the Diptera, closely allied to 

 the Muscidce, and in this respect is like the Bombylius and the 

 (Eslrus. It has hairs long and sharp, which perform the 

 oflice of the taper trunk of both the Bombylius and the (Eslrus, 

 without, however, being inclosed by two horizontal valves, as 



