[236] Amœn. Acad. iii. 358.
[237] Linn. Flor. Lapp. 376. Lach. Lapp. i. 233, 234. This insect from Linné's description is probably no Culex, but perhaps a Simulium, Latr. (Simulia, Meig.).
[238] Life of General Thomas, 186.
[239] Linn. It. Scand. 182. De Geer, v. 227-30.
[240] Plate [XVI.] Fig. 3. Mr. Clark, however, is of opinion that the Œstrus does not pierce the skin of the animal, but only glues its eggs to it. Essay on the Bots of Horses and other Animals, p. 47.
[241] Much of the information here collected is taken from Reaum. iv. Mem. 12; and Clark in Linn. Trans. iii. 289.
[242] The writer of the present letter is possessor of this specimen, which he took on himself in a field where oxen were feeding. Plate [V.] Fig. 1.
[243] In the Systema Antliatorum (p. 56) Fabricius most strangely considers this insect as synonymous with Culex reptans, L. calling it Scatopse reptans, and dropping his former reference to Pallas, and account of its injurious properties. Meigen (Dipt. i. 294) makes this insect a Simulia under the name of S. maculata.
[244] Fabr. Ent. Syst. Em. iv. 276. 22. Latr. Hist. Nat. &c. xiv. 283. Leipz. Zeit. Jul. 5, 1813, quoted in Germar's Mag. der Ent. ii. 185.
[245] It is by no means clear that the Œstrus of modern entomologists is synonymous with the insects which the Greeks distinguish by that name. Aristotle not only describes these as blood-suckers (Hist. Animal. l. viii. c. 11.) but also as furnished with a strong proboscis (l. iv. c. 7.). He observes likewise that they are produced from an animal inhabiting the waters, in the vicinity of which they most abound (l. viii. c. 7.). And Ælian (Hist. l. vi. c. 38.) gives nearly the same account. Comparing the Œstrus with the Myops (synonymous perhaps with Tabanus, Latr., except that Aristotle affirms that its larvæ live in wood, l. v. c. 19,) he says, the Œstrus for a fly is one of the largest; it has a stiff and large sting, (meaning a proboscis,) and emits a certain humming and harsh sound—but the Myops is like the Cynomyia—it hums more loudly than the Œstrus, though it has a smaller sting.