20 Mr. W. S. MacLeay on the (Estriist of Mr. B. Clark, 



passages, and those all from modern writers,* viz. one from Shakspeare, 

 who therein says, that the brize annoys the herd more than the tiger ; one 

 from Thomson, who says that when thus annoyed, they scour the plain and 

 cut various other unseemly capers ; and lastly one from an old play, the 

 author of which proposes to plant a brize, by way of spur, into some 

 nameless part of some inactive and nameless gentleman. These three 

 English passages form a main body of evidence, that, according to Mr. 

 Clark, most decidedly prove the (Estrus of Aristotle to be that of Lin- 

 naeus, I may, therefore, take less notice of the light skirmishers which 

 appear on the field to support the same cause, in the shape of passages 

 from the Lachesis Lapponica of Linnaeus, one of which says, that in 

 Lapland the (Estrus of the Reindeer has an egg like a white mustard 

 seed, and another that the Reindeer stop short and remain motionless on 

 the sight of their peculiar tormentor. The appositeness of these quotations 

 to the subject in question is not very manifest, but I suppose the mode of 

 reasoning from them is as follows : if the egg of the Lapland (Estrus be 

 like a white mustard seed, and if the Reindeer in Lapland stop short, ergo 

 the (Estrus of Aristotle must be that of Bracy Clark, and the Oxen in 

 Greece on being tormented by their (Estrus do not stop short. 



Mr. Clark says that Linnaeus, Vallisneri, Reaumur, and, though last, 

 not least, Bracy Clark, hold the opinion that the (Estrus of the ancients 

 is the (Estrus hovis of Linnaeus; and he therefore pronounces Ray, 

 Olivier, Latreille, and Kirby to be heretics, nay, even Aristotle, ^lian, 

 and Pliny themselves to know nothing about the matter, if they have dared 

 to write otherwise than as he would have them. It is right, however, for 

 Mr. Clark's glory, to assign him the full force of this argumentum ad 

 verecundiam, for Linnaeus having changed his opinion once with respect 

 to the ancient (Estrus, might, if he had lived, have changed it ag-ain. 



* It is true Mr. Clark repeats the hackneyed passage from Virgil, but it is 

 for the sole purpose of unfolding from it the following " curious discovery," 

 which is thus solemnly imparted to the Public, through the medium of the 

 Linnean Transactions. Alluding to the words " Cui nomen Asilo Roma- 

 " num est, CEstron Graii vertere vocantes;" Mr. Clark says, " From 

 " this admirable description, it is clearly manifest that Asilus was the Roman 

 " name for the fly which agitates the cattle ; and it is equally clear, that (Estrus 

 " was the Greek name for it." 



