Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-04-22

ule6 Is Lnat, Oeep1tc IlmltlcS6 ingenuity
expended on patent traps and poisoned
paper, they form one OF those ills OF life
which, it not being possible entirely tc
cure, must perforce be endured with o.
good grace as may be. Consequently
when they ruin our picture-frames and
| ceilings, insinuate themselves into Oul
milk and molasses pitchers, or lull us to
sleep with their drowsy buzzing, only to
bite us during our slumbers and render
the same uneasy, we thank fate that the
cold weather will rid US OF the pest To
be sure, they are scavengers in their way
but after we have spent several minutes
In picking a score or more out OF the
butter-dish we arrive at the conclusion
that 1t Is an open question whether they
do not spoil more good material than
they carry off bad.
| FestinG s,lte, good reader, hasten slow
ly and do not anchor faith to such opin-
ions until you are certain that the above
sum up all of the fy's mission in this
world. Musca domssstica Science uses
six syllables in Latin to express that
which good round Saxon epi.omizes in
| two) is a maligned insect. He fulflls a
purpose Of sufficient moment to cause
you to bear his inroads into your morn
ing nap with equanimity, or even com
placently to view him congregated by
the score within your hidden sweets.
Did you ever watch fly who has just
alighted after soaring about the room for
some little time? He goes through a
series of operations which remind you
of cat licking herself after a meal, or
of bird pluming Its feathers. First,
the hind feet are rubbed together, then
4, IL !n< 10 N hav
the forelegs undergo a like treatment !;
and lastly, if you look sharp you will see
the insect carry his prOboscis over his
reach. The minute trunk Is perfectly
retractile and it terminates in two large
lobes, which you can see spread out
Of sugar. Now the rubbing together OF
legs and wings may be smoothing oper-
alton; but for what purpose is this
carefully going over the body with the
trunk, especially when that organ is not
fitted for licking, but simply for grasping
and sucking up food?
This query, which perhaps may have
suggested itself TO thousands, has re-
Gently for the first time been answered
by Mr.. Emerson, an English chemist;
y,
tons of that gentleman's Investigations,
the fly assumes the position of an i'm
portant friend instead of pest to man
kind. Mr.. Emerson states that he be-
gan his self-appointed task of finding
out whether the house-fy really serves
any appreciable purpose in the scheme
of creation, excepting as an indifferent
scavenger, by capturing fine specimen
rl,xsc L. Co.
scope slide. On placing the slide under
the instrument to the investigators dis
gust, the fly appeared covered with lice,
causing the offending insect to be
promptly released and another substi-
tuted in his place. Fly No. 2was no better
off than fly No. 1, and as the same might
be predicated of flies 3, a, 5 Tor of flies, as
the algebras have it), Mr.. Emerson con-
cluded that here was something which
at once required looking into. Why
were the flies lousy? Meanwhile fly No.
2, on the slide, seemed to take his posi-
ton very coolly, and extending his pro-
boscis began to sweep 1t over his body
through the microscope, however, showed
that the operation was not one OF self
Identification; for wherever the lice
were disappearing into the trunk; the
fly was eating them. Up to this time,
the investigator had treated his specimen
as OF the masculine gender; but now he
changes his mind and concludes it to be
a female, busily devouring not lice but
her own progeny. The flies then carry
their young about them; and when the
family get too numerous or the mother
too hungry, the offspring are eaten.
Awhile reasoning thus, MIR. Emerson
picked up scrap of white writing paper,
from which two flies appeared to be
busily eating something, and put 1t under
the instrument. There were the progeny
again on the paper and easily rubbed of
with cloth. This" he says, set me
kitchen again and waved it around, TAX
ing care that no flies touched 1t, went
back to the microscope and there found
animalcules, the same as on flies. had
now arrived at something definite; they
were not the progeny Of the fly, but ami
malcules floating in the air, and the
on their bodies and the flies then went
into some quiet corner to have their
dainty meal"
1uC luNCbtlSdtOl SOCS III w uCoCIlUC
how he continued the experiment in q
variety Of localities, and how, in dirty
and bad-smelling quarters, he found the
myriads of flies which existed there
literally covered with animalcules,
while other fies captured in bed.
rooms or well-ventilated, clean apart
ments, were miserably lean and entirely
free from their prey. Wherever filth ex.
listed, evolving germs which might gen.
crate disease, there were the flies, COW
ering themselves with the minute or
ganlsms and greedily devouring the same
Mr.. Emerson while thus proving the
utility of the fly, has added another and
lower link to that curious and necessary
chain of destruction which exists in
animated nature These infinitesimal
animacules form food for the flies, the flies
for the spiders, the spiders for the birds,
the birds for the quadrupeds, and SO on
up to the last of the series, serving the
same purpose to man. He certainly de-
serves credit for an interesting and novel
investigation and for an intelligent dis
cernment which might even attack the
more difficult task Of teaching US the
uses--for nature makes nothing without
some beneficial end-of the animalcules
themselves. Scientific american.