as connected with the Hieroglyphics of Egypt. 177 



ola-rpoi of Aristotle were insects extremely near to each other 

 in affinity ;" and that the former has always been " considered 

 to be the Tabanus, and the latter the CEstrus ; that they both 

 are most inimical to cattle; that the oltrrpos is one of the largest 

 flies, having a strong sting in its mouth, and uttering a parti- 

 cular kind of harsh humming noise, while the fxvwfy is like 

 the fly called by the Greeks xvvopvicc ; and although it makes 

 a louder hum, it has a smaller sting*." Mr. Kirby, therefoi'e, 

 imagining that the characters of both these insects are united 

 in the Zimb, considers it to belong to the genus of both. 



But, however true this may be in regard to the CEstrus, I 

 do not know how it can be proved in regard to the Tabanus. 

 The mouth of this insect is formed into a fleshy proboscis 

 terminated by two lips: it has a rostrum furnished with two 

 pointed palpi, which are very short, and placed on each side 

 of the proboscis. It is marked (at least the Tabanus bovinus, 

 which infests the cattle, and in this respect resembles the 

 Zimb of Bruce, is marked) down the back by a series of large 

 whitish triangular spots, pointing downwards ; and on each 

 side, also, is an approach to a similar appearance, though less 

 distinct, than those of the dorsal row. The body of the Zimb 

 is considerably thicker and shorter; has no such spots, nor, 

 indeed, any spots ; its lips are very large and very thick ; it has 

 no antenna? ; and of the three hairs at its snout, one is at- 

 tached to the superior, and two to the inferior lip : they are 

 very long, and of the same dimension and character, and it 

 would be difficult to say whether all or any of them perform 

 the office of a proboscis, which is not probable ; or whether 

 the under alone is grooved like a channel to convey the poi- 

 son ; or whether all of them, merely performing the office of 

 piercers, inflict the wound, into which the poison is afterwards 

 injected from the mouth, for it is quite clear that it does not 

 inflict the wound for the sake of depositing its eggs. 



From these facts I may venture to conclude, that the Zimb 

 of Bruce is the Kwopvia. of the Greeks, the af an ouhor of the 

 ancient Egyptians, an undescribed species of the CEstrus of 

 Aristotle, partaking of the different characters both generic 

 and specific, of the Hippobosca, the Bombylius, the Tabanus, 

 and even of the Pangonia and the Nemestrina, without pro- 

 perly belonging to any of them. It is exclusively confined 

 within the fat black earth round the Nile; and its figure was 

 adopted amongst the hieroglyphics as the symbol of Egypt, 



• Mr. \V. S. Macleay's paper here referred to will also be found in the 

 Phil. Mag. vol. lxv. p. 4."1 : sec further Phil. Mag. and Annals, N.S. vol. iii. 

 p. 2S.'{.— Edit. 



Third Series. Vol. 4. No. 21 . March 1834. 2 A 



