754 



of $atttral 



spotted with black, whence it has derived 

 its English name : the antennas in the male 

 are beautifully bipectinated for half their 

 length ; the larva, which is yellow and spot- 

 ted, feeds like that of the Goat-moth, in the 

 interior of trees, and as well as it, forms a 

 cocoon of chips of wood agglutinated toge- 

 ther ; it feeds on various trees, but seems 

 particularly fond of the elm. 



ZIBET. A species of carnivorous mam- 

 malia belonging to the genus Viverra and 

 the family Viverridce. it is found on the 

 Asiatic coast, and in some of the larger 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago. It has 

 a short and thick neck, the breast being full 

 and somewhat distended, and differs con- 

 siderably in its markings from its African 

 congener, the Civet. Dr. Horsfleld, in his 

 Zoological Researches, informs us that it is 

 of a comparatively mild disposition, and is 

 sometimes found in a state of partial do- 



ZIBIT. (VIVERRA.) 



mestication. The substance secreted by an 

 opening near the tail resembles that of the 

 Civet, and is, perhaps, equally prized. [See 

 CIVKT.] 



ZIMB. A fly, supposed to be a species of 

 Tabanus, described by Bruce, the Abyssinian 

 traveller, but not previously referred to by 

 any naturalist. From Bruce's account we 

 learn that it is in size very little larger than 

 a bee, of a thicker proportion, and has wings, 

 which are broader than those of a bee, placed 

 separate, like those of a fly : they are of a 

 fine gauze, without colour or spot upon them. 

 The head is large ; the upper jaw or lip 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 the pencil of hairs when joined 

 together makes a resistance to the finger 

 nearly equal to that of a hog's bristle. Its 

 legs are serrated on the inside, and the whole 

 covered with brown hair or down. He has 

 no sting, though he seems to me rather of 

 the bee kind ; but his motion is more rapid 

 and sudden than that of the bee, and re- 

 sembles that of the gadfly in England. There 

 is something peculiar in the sound or buzz- 

 ing. It is a jarring noise, together with a 

 humming, which induces me to believe it 

 p.-oceeds, at least in part, from a vibration 

 made with the three hairs at its snout. As 

 soon as this plague appears, and this 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 but to leave the black 

 earth, and hasten down to the sands of At- 

 bara, and there they remain while the rains 



last, this cruel enemy never daring to pursue 

 them farther. Though his size is as im- 

 mense as is his strength, and his body co- 

 vered with a thick skin defended with strong 

 hair, yet even the camel is not unable to 

 sustain the violent punctures the fly makes 

 with his pointed 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 in large bosses, 

 which swell, break, and putrefy, to the 

 certain destruction of the creature. Even 

 the elephant and rhinoceros, which, by reason 

 of their enormous bulk and the vast quan- | 

 tity of food and water which they require 

 daily, cannot shift to desert and dry places 

 as the season may require, are obliged to 

 roll themselves in mud and mire, which 

 when dry, coats them over like armour, and 

 enables them to stand their ground against 

 this winged assassin ; yet I have seen some 

 of these tubercles upon almost every ele- 

 phant and rhinoceros that I have seen, and 

 attribute them to this cause. All the in- 

 habitants of the sea- coast of the Melinda, 

 down to Cape Gardefui, to Saba, and the 

 south coast of the Red Sea, are obliged to 

 put themselves in motion and remove to the 

 next sand in the beginning of the rainy , 

 season, to prevent all their stock of cattle 

 being destroyed. This is not a partial emi- 

 gration, the inhabitants of all the countries, 

 from the mountains of Abyssinia to the 

 confluence of the Nile and Cestaboras north- 

 wards, are once a year compelled to change 

 their abode and seek protection in the sands 

 of Beja ; nor is there any alternative or 

 means of avoiding this. 



Providence from the beginning, it would 

 seem, had fixed its habitation to one species 

 of soil, being a black fat earth, extraordi- 

 narily fruitful ; and, small and inconceivable 

 as it was, it seems from the first to have given 

 law to the settlement of the country. It 

 prohibited absolutely those inhabitants of 

 the fat earth called Mazaga, domiciled in 

 caves and mountains, from enjoying the 

 help or labour of any beasts of carriage. It 

 deprived them of their flesh and milk for 

 food, and gave rise to another nation whose 

 manners were just the reverse of the first. 

 These were the shepherds, leading a wan- 

 dering life, and preserving their immense 

 herds of cattle by conducting them into the 

 sands beyond the limits of the black earth, 

 and bringing them back again when the 

 danger from this insect was over." 



" We cannot read the history of the plagues 

 which God brought upon Pharaoh by the 

 hands of Moses," observes our author, " with- 

 out stopping a moment to consider a singu- 

 larity a very principal one which at- 

 tended this plague of the fly. It was not till 

 this time, and by means of this insect, that 

 God said he would separate his people from 

 the Egyptians, And it would seem that 

 then a law was given to them that fixed the 

 limits of their habitation. It is well known 

 that the land of Goshen or Geshen, the pos- 

 session of the Israelites, was a land of pasture, 

 which was not tilled or sown, because it was 

 not overflowed by the Nile. But the land 

 overflowed by the Nile was the black earth 



