An appendix or supplement to a treatise on the Oestri and Cuterebrae of various animals. Read April 6th and 20th, 1841 / [Bracy Clark].

  • Bracy Clark
Date:
[1845.]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An appendix or supplement to a treatise on the Oestri and Cuterebrae of various animals. Read April 6th and 20th, 1841 / [Bracy Clark]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/15 page 83
    matter bywords to convey a notion of the precise sound he gives; but as nearly as I can express it by letters of the alphabet, I will endeavour to do so. It commences by a forcible whispering shrill sound, the air passing through the almost closed lips, in pronouncing the following letters, pt—pth—ung, con- cluding with the more sonorous ung, prolonged for some time. I am, there- fore, now most fully induced to believe in the accuracy of the Mantuan bard, who was, I doubt not, practically acquainted with these things, and for which property of accuracy he has been particularly and justly celebrated.” We may also further observe, that there cannot well be any very painful inflic- tion, as the fly has really no instrument fitted for such a purpose, the feminine ovipositor being a mere tube, made of flexible materials, piece inserted within piece, exactly as in the common telescope. However, it is possible on its reaching the cuticle or skin of the beast, which is always highly sensitive in these hairy animals, that it might produce a degree of uneasy tickling, which, added to the noise, and perhaps an instinctive fear also impressed upon them, is altogether sufficient for the extraordinary alarm we see. In the same page, insert as a note on Tanagri, “ex ravaypoc, i. e. locus hu- midus.” Heder. Lexicon. At page 7, after naturalists, insert, “Pliny has also noticed the GEstri, and has recommended for protecting animals from their attacks, to anoint them well with oils and fats.” At page 8, after “ Bots,” insert, “ The acute and witty author of Hudibras also has not let slip the manners of this singular race of flies: he says of them3 following Pliny, though obviously in mistake, ‘ 'The learned write, an insect breeze Is but a mongrel prince of bees.’ ”—Part iii. c. 2. At page 14, after “ Modeer,” insert. “ This last writer it was who first added a new species to the Linnean enumeration of them. His account appears in the ‘Acta Suecica,’ tom. vii. p. 125, and the species is introduced to our notice under the name of GEstrus Trompe. What the specific name alludes to I can hardly tell *, but I have of late been led to doubt that this fly might be no * Since writing the above, on casually inspecting the ‘Fauna Suecica’ of Linnaeus, I believe that I have found the solution of the mystery as to the name, Trompe. At p. 429 of that work, No. 1722, under CEstrus nasalis, he writes “ Lappis, trompe.” It is, therefore, clearly the vernacular name given it by
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3