416 
The Animal-Lore of whaJcspeare’s Time. 
and antiquarian information respecting all these insects 
the reader curious in such matters is referred to Topsell’s 
History of Serpents. 
Muffett, in his Theater of Insects, mentions, and gives 
^ illustrations of, the following varieties of Fly: 
the Flesh-fly, or Blue-bottle, a frequenter of 
butchers’ stalls; the Dog-fly ; the Oxe-fly, or Tabanus; 
the Horse-fly, or Brees, called in Latin asilum; the 
Whane, Burrel-fly, or Wringle-tail, a fly like a bee, but 
with a longer body ; Hair-tails, or Bristle-tails, which 
feed on smaller flies and caterpillars (ichneumons); 
Adders, Boults, Dragon-flies, or Water-butterflies ; the 
Water-fly, whereof the caddis, or cados-worme; and the 
Tipula, or Crane-fly. 
We find several of these kinds alluded to by Shak- 
speare. Ferdinand protests that but for the love of 
Miranda, he would— 
“No more endure 
This wooden slavery than to suffer 
The flesh-fly blow my mouth.” 
( Tempest, iii. 1, 61.) 
Doll Tear sheet applies the epithet “ blue-bottle rogue ” to 
the beadle, probably in allusion to the colour of his 
uniform. 
The Horse-fly of Muffett was probably the gad-fly, so 
called from the Saxon word gad, a sharp point or goad. 
This winged torment was, according to the classical 
myth, the instrument chosen by Juno to revenge herself 
upon her rival Ino. We read in the Georgies of Virgil:— 
“ Alburnus, an abundant winged thing, 
Of which Asilus is the Latin name; 
Greeks have it iEstros rendered in their tongue; 
Fierce, buzzing, shrill; at which all panic-struck 
Throughout the woods in all directions fly 
The herds: storms gather, with their roars convulsed. 
And dry Tanager’s forests and his banks. 
