THE BULL. 



refources of his addrefs and fury, and the different methods of irritating, 

 tormenting, and deceiving him, none of thefe fcenes refembles another, and 

 they pity thofe frivolous obfervers who cannot remark all their varieties (a.) 



It was formerly the cuflom in England, to bait Bulls with a particular 

 breed of Dogs, trained for that purpofe, and called Bull-Dogs, in order to 

 render their flefli more tender when killed; and this cuflom became, at 

 length, a fubjed for entertainment, to the lefs civilized clafs of people, who 

 ufed frequently to bait Bulls, merely for their diverfion; but this favage and 

 barbarous practice feems now to be nearly left off, and to have given way 

 to a voluntary refinement of manners. 



This animal is much expofed to the attacks of a fly with two wings, the 

 Oeflrus Bovis of Linnaeus; the female of which makes a number of fmall 

 punctures in the backs of horned cattle, and in each of them depofits an egg, 

 which is afterwards hatched by the warmth of the Creature's body, and 

 produces a worm or maggot, which foon finds a lodging perfectly fuitable 

 to it. 



The places where thefe worms are lodged are eafily to be perceived, by a 

 tumour raifed above the furface, within which the infect is to be found under 

 the fkin of the animal. 



Thefe maggots may, with fome degree of propriety, be faid to be the 

 inhabitants of the galls or excrefcences of animals, fince they are contained 

 in tumours fimilar to the galls of the oak and other vegetables, which are 

 well known to be the production of infects in like manner. 



The aperture made by the female fly never clofes, but enlarges with the 

 tumour, and ferves both as a breathing place for the young infect, and as a 

 pailage through which the fuperfluous humour contained in the tumour 

 difcharges itfelf, which would otherwife, if confined, occafion a large abfcefs, 

 and fufFocate the little creature. 



Happily for the Ox, this little worm is not furnifhed with thofe hooks, 

 obfervable in the maggot of the common flefh-fly, wherewith it lacerates and 

 pulls the flefh in pieces, or its fituation would be truly wretched, with fo 



(a) This account is chiefly taken from the Encyclopaedia Biitannica. 



