ZEUZERA ZINGIBER. 



831 



exhibits an excess of electricity, whilst the opposite 

 end is in a negative state. Fine specimens are found 



in Dunbartonshire, and some other parts of Scotland ; 

 it is also brought from America. The other forms 

 of zeolite are more rare, and excite but little interest. 



ZEUZERA (Latreille). A genus of moths, be- 

 longing to the family Hepialidos, and comprising a 

 single British species, Z. JEtcuH, known to collectors 

 under the name of the Wood Leopard, being of a 

 beautiful white colour, with numerous small black 

 spots ; the male is distinguished by the antennae, 

 which are pectinated only half their length, the extre- 

 mity being simple ; the female has the abdomen ter- 

 minated by a very long and retractile telescopic 

 ovipositor, fitted for introducing her eggs in the cre- 

 vices of trees. It feeds on the wood of the pear, 

 apple, service, quince, and probably of all the Itosacces, 

 as it is known to do on the horse-chestnut, lime, 

 walnut, beech, birch, and oak, into which the larva 

 bores, forming burrows half an inch in diameter, and 

 so greatly injuring the timber. This larva is of a 

 deep fleshy yellow colour, with black spots and a 

 black head. It remains two years in this state and 

 about a month in that of the chrysalis, the abdominal 

 segments of which are furnished with reflexed hooks, 

 enabling the chrysalis to push itself to the orifice of 

 its burrow, so as to effect its escape without difficulty 

 on arriving at the perfect state. 



ZIMB (Tsaltsalyid). An insect first described by 

 Bruce, the African traveller, but of which no subse- 

 quent information has been obtained by travellers in 

 the deserts of Africa ; so that, notwithstanding the 

 confirmation of many of Bruce's most marvellous- 

 seeming statements, the account of the zimb is be- 

 coming a matter of doubt. We mention it, however, 

 in this place because we perceive that at the last 

 meeting of the Zoological Society Mr. MacLeay 

 called the attention of the members to this subject. 

 "This insect," says Bruce, "is a. proof how fallacious 

 it is to judge from appearances. If we consider his 

 small size, his weakness, want of variety or beauty, 

 nothing in the creation is more contemptible and in- 

 significant ; yet, passing from these to his history, 

 and to the account of his powers, we must confess 

 the very great injustice we do him from want of con- 

 sideration. We are obliged with the greatest surprise 

 to acknowledge that those huge animals, the elephant, 

 the rhinoceros, the lion, and the tiger, inhabiting the 

 same woods, are still vastly his inferiors ; and that 

 the appearance of this small insect, nay his very sound, 

 though he is not seen, occasions more trepidation, 

 movement, and disorder, both in the human and brute 

 creation, than would whole herds of those monstrous 

 animals collected together, though their number was 

 in a tenfold proportion greater than it really is. It 

 is in size very little larger than a bee, and its wings, 



which are broader than those of a bee, placed sepa- 

 rate, like those of a fly. As soon as this plague ap- 

 pears, and their buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake 

 their food, and run wildly about the- plain till they 

 die worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger. No 

 remedy remains for the residents on such spots but 

 to leave the black earth, and hasten down to the sands 

 of Atbara, where they remain while the rains last, 

 this cruel enemy never daring to pursue them further. 

 What enables the shepherd to perform the long and 

 toilsome journey across Africa is the camel, empha- 

 tically called the ship of the Desert. Though his 

 size is immense, as is his strength, and his body 

 covered with a thick skin defended with strong hair, 

 yet still he is not capable to sustain the violent punc- 

 tures this fly makes with his proboscis. He must 

 lose no time in removing to the sands of Atbara, for 

 when once attacked by this fly, his body, head, and 

 legs break out into large bosses, which swell, break, and 

 putrify, to the certain destruction of the creature. 

 Even the elephant and rhinoceros, who, by reason of 

 their enormous bulk, and the vast quantity of fo*od 

 and water they daily need, cannot shift to desert and 

 dry places as the season requires, are obliged to roll 

 themselves in sand and mire, which, wheu dry, coats 

 them over like armour, and enables them to stand 

 their ground against this winged assassin ; yet have 

 I found some of these tubercles upon almost every 

 elephant and rhinoceros that I have seen, and attri- 

 bute them to this cause." 



On reading this account, we are most forcibly struck 

 with many of the circumstances connected with the 

 habits and appearances of the CEstridcs (see EOT and 

 CEsTRtrs). We have marked in italics those passages 

 which seem to prove that the zimb is perfectly analo- 

 gous to some of the CEstridce. Latreille also (Regne 

 Anim. v. 500) expressly mentions the camel as being 

 subject to the attacks of the CEstridce; and Mr. Hope 

 has recently read, before the Entomological Society, 

 an account of a larva of one of the same insects which 

 attacks the rhinoceros. It is true that each species 

 of CEstridce is peculiar to a particular quadruped ; but 

 we think by attributing part of Bruce's statement to 

 the confusion prevailing in a desert by the maddened 

 fury of a troop of rhinoceroses, for instance, on the 

 appearance of CEstrus rhinocerontes, we shall not be 

 very far wrong in considering the statement as a but 

 slightly exaggerated account of circumstances seen 

 by an eye-witness. 



ZINC. This mineral occurs in a variety of forms, 

 and is mostly found in collections of the metals under 

 the name of calamine. Here it assumes the most 

 beautiful forms, and when coloured by carbonate of 

 copper presents a display of tints which are almost 

 unrivalled in nature. It abounds in Somersetshire, 

 Flintshire, and Derbyshire. 



Both prismatic and rhomboidal calamine, when 

 purified and roasted, are used in the fabrication of 

 brass, which is a compound of zinc and copper, and 

 the pure metal is also employed for a variety of pur- 

 poses, the most important of which are comparatively 

 new. Thus we find zinc, which was usually consi- 

 dered one of the hardest and most frangible of metals, 

 rolled into thin plates, as a covering for houses and 

 a variety of domestic utensils ; and if its surface be 

 kept bright it is especially fitted for the latter pur- 

 pose, but the oxyde is injurious when allowed to 

 corrode. 



ZINGIBER (Gsertner). A useful genus of tuber- 



