5 
this does Moses in the sacred writings appear to allude to an 
Insect of this tribe in Egypt, that caused great dread ; but of 
what piecise species this should be, we do not venture to make 
any conjecture. 
In the Georgies of Virgil the attack of the Ox-bot upon the 
herd is strongly delineated, and perhaps correctly. The shrill 
sound, however, which Virgil describes, we have not been able 
to perceive ; and believe that the agony the fly occasions in 
depositing the egg in the skin, will account sufficiently for the 
violent agitation of the herd, without this sound. We, how¬ 
ever, mention it, in order to direct the attention of others, who 
may have the opportunity, to this circumstance, and to con¬ 
firm or reject this part of the poet’s admirable description. 
His lines are these : 
“ Est lucos Silari circa, ilicibusque virentem 
Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen Asilo 
Romanum est, Oestron Graii vertere vocantes : 
Asper, acerba sonans: quo tota exterrita sylvis 
Diffugiunt armenta ; furit mugitibus aether 
Concussus, sylvaeque et sicci ripa Tanagri.” 
Georg. lib. iii. v. 146—151. 
TRANSLATION. 
“ About the Alburnian groves, with holly green, 
Of winged insects mighty swarms are seen ; 
This flying plague, (to mark its quality,) 
Oestros the Grecians call—Asylus we— 
A fierce loud buzzing breeze;—their stings draw blood, 
And drive the cattle gadding through the wood. 
Seiz’d with unusual pains, they loudly cry: 
Tanagris hastens thence, and leaves his channel dry 
This curse the jealous Juno did invent, 
And first employ’d for Id’s punishment: 
To shun this ill, the cunning leach ordains 
In sultry summer heats, for then it reigns, 
B 
