OFF 



OFF 



they find out some convenient retreat, 

 and change to the chrysalis ; and in about 

 six or seven weeks the fly appears. 



" The perfect fly but ill sustains the 

 changes of weather ; and cold and mois- 

 ture, in any considerable degree, would 

 probably be fatal to it. These flies never 

 pursue the horse into the water. This 

 aversion I imagine arises from the chill- 

 ness of that element, which is probably 

 felt more exquisitely by them, from the 

 high temperature they had been exposed 

 to during their larva state. The heat of 

 the stomach of the horse is much greater 

 than that of the wannest climate, being 

 about 102 degrees of Fahrenheit, and in 

 their fly state they are only exposed to 

 60, and from that to about 80 degrees. This 

 change, if suddenly applied, would in all 

 probability be fatal to them; but they 

 are prepared for it, by suffering its first 

 effects in the quiescent and less sensible 

 state of a chrysalis. I have often seen 

 this fly, during the night time and in cold 

 weather, fold itself up with the head and 

 tail nearly in contact, and lying apparent- 

 ly in a torpid state through the middle of 

 the summer." 



O. ovis : wings pellucid, punctured at 

 the base ; abdomen variegated with white 

 and black. It deposits its eggs on the 

 inner margin of the nostrils of sheep, oc- 

 casioning them to shake their heads vio- 

 lently, and hide their noses in the dust or 

 gravel. The larva crawl up into the fron- 

 tal sinuses, and when full fed are again 

 discharged through the nostrils. See PI. 

 III. Entomology, fig. 7 and 8. 



OFFENCE, is any act committed a- 

 gainst any law. Offences are either cap- 

 ital, or not capital. Capital offences are 

 those for which the offender loses his life ; 

 not capital, where the offender may lose 

 his lands and goods, be fined, or suffer 

 corporal punishment, or both, but which 

 are not subject to the loss of life. 



OFFERINGS. Oblations and offer- 

 ings partake of the nature of tithes ; and 

 all persons, who by law ought to pay their 

 offerings, shall yearly pay to the parson, 

 vicar, proprietary, or their deputies, or 

 farmers of the parishes where they dwell, 

 at such four ottering days as heretofore 

 within the space of four years last past 

 hath been accustomed, and in default 

 thereof shall pay for the said offerings 

 at Easter following. 



OFFICE, is that function, by virtue of 

 which a person has some employment in 

 the affairs of another. An office is a right 

 to exercise any public or private employ- 

 ment, and to take the fees and emolu- 



ments belonging to it, whether public, as 

 those of magistrates ; or private, as of 

 bailiffs, receivers, &c. 



The statute 5 and 6 Edward VI. c. 16, 

 declares all securities given for the sale 

 of offices unlawful. And if any person 

 shall bargain, or sell, or take any reward, 

 or promise of reward, for any office, or 

 the deputation of any office, concerning 

 the revenue, or the keeping of the king's 

 castles, or the administration and execu- 

 tion of justice, unless it be such an office 

 as had been usually granted by the jus- 

 tices of the King's Bench, or Common 

 Pleas, or by justices of assize, every such 

 person shall not only forfeit his right to 

 such office, or to the nomination thereof; 

 but the person giving such reward, &c. 

 shall be disabled to hold such office. 



But it has been decided, that where an 

 office is within the statute, and the salary 

 certain, if the principal make a deputy, 

 reserving by bond a less sum out of the 

 salary, it is good : or if the profits are un- 

 certain, reserving a part, as half the 

 profits, it is good ; for the fees still be- 

 long to the principal, in whose name they 

 must be sued for, But where a person 

 so appointed gives a bond to the princi- 

 pal to pay him a sum certain, without re- 

 ference to the profits, this is void under 

 the statute.. 



To offer money to any officer of state, 

 to procure the reversion of an office in 

 the gift of the crown, is a misdemeanor 

 at common law, and punishable by in- 

 formation ; and even the attempt to in- 

 duce him, under the influence of a bribe, 

 is criminal, though never carried into exe- 

 cution. An instance of which occurred 

 under the administration of Mr. Adding- 

 ton, who prosecuted a tinman for offering 

 a sum of money to him for a place in the 

 customs. 



Any contract to procure the nomina- 

 tion to an office, not within the statute 6 

 Edward VI. is defective, on the ground of 

 public policy ; and the money agreed to 

 be given is not recoverable. 



OFFICER, a person possessed of a post 

 or office. 



The great officers of the crown, or 

 state, are the Lord High Steward, the 

 Lord High Chancellor, the Lord High 

 Treasurer, the Lord President of the 

 Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord 

 Chamberlain, the Lord High Constable, 

 the Earl Marshal : each of which see un- 

 der its proper article. 



OFFICERS, commission, are those ap- 

 pointed by the King's commission : such 

 are all from the general to the comet in* 



