ON 
THE BOTS, OR OESTRI 
These singular Insects, whose Habitations are the bodies of 
living animals, are nourished in their Grub or Larva State in 
an extraordinary way, by feeding upon the juices of these ani¬ 
mals, and in their winged state often infest and teaze them, 
that they could hardly fail of attracting notice, and becoming 
an object of surprize and curiosity. 
This curious race, with us in England, have obtained the 
name of Botts, or, more correctly, Bots, as the origin of the 
word would point out as the more proper mode of spell¬ 
ing it. The source or derivation of this appellation did not 
till very lately occur to me, and was not at all apprehended 
at the time I wrote an Essay on these Insects, addressed to the 
Linnean Society, and inserted in the 3d Volume of their 
Transactions. Our Lexicographers also appear to have been 
at a loss respecting the true origin of this word, on which we 
shall venture a suggestion that will appear, we believe, tolera¬ 
bly satisfactory. The derivation of it, we apprehend, is from 
the French word Bout, signifying the extremity or end of a 
thing, in the way we see it in the words About , Bottom, Bottle , 
Botville, &c.; the last of these alluding to one living at the 
end or extremity of a town, by elision or for brevity the u be¬ 
ing omitted. From the same origin also we have Butts , houses 
placed without or at the extremity or end of a town, the o in 
