The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1884-12-03
Flies.
THEY DO NOT INCREASE IN sIzE-T
FEET. EYES AID TEETH.

fEEI, El ES AND TEETH.
"Tell us about flies, T" writes one young
correspondent. 'SWhere do they come
from, and where do they 90 in winter?
Are there different kinds of flies ?"
While some naturalists think that our
house flies are the same as the house fly
of England, and the rest OF Europe, 9TH
ers regard them as different. Singularly
enough, none of our naturalists have
studied our house fly, and observed its
transformations, and all that we know
of the life history OF this very common
insect is from observations made in Eu-
rope. Flies, like most other insects,
have larval or maggot state; when the
maggots are full grown they pass into the
pupa or chrysalis form, from which, lin
England in fourteen days they come out
as the perfect insect or winged fly. 1t
is perfectly well known that house flies
pass their early life as maggots in ma
nure, and, as most are aware, are more
abundant in the neighborhood of stables
than elsewhere.
Flies do not grow. | have more than
once heard persons speak OF seeing young
flies in the spring, evidently thinking
that the small flies they may meet with
are young individuals and will grow to
their fnll size. When the flies come out
ever will be, and, if some are smaller
than others, they are different kinds OF
flies. The same is true OF moths and
butterflies.
1t is well known that flies can walk up
smooth pane OF glass, and along the
ceiling with their bodies downward with
out falling. The foot of the fly, when
examined by powerful microscope, is
found to have numerous hairs upon it
each with little disk at the end. 1t is
thought by most naturalists that the fly
can use these disks as boy use leath-
er sucker, to enable it to cling to smooth
surfaces. The eyes of the fly are very
large in proportion to the size of the
head. The microscope shows that these
are not simply eyes, but curiously made
up of separate facets, each of which is
really an eye. The two compound eyes
of the fly are made up of about four
thousand simple ones. Human beings
have only two simple eyes.
The so-called trunk or probocis of the
fly, which, when not in use, is bent ur
under the head, is really tongue, with
knob at the end. When the fly comes
across anything sweet, this knob opens
and spreads out two flat leaves, which
enables the insect to lap up liquids
These leaves are rough like rasp, and
with them the fly can tear delicate sur
faces; it often disfigures the covers Of
books by scraping off their polish. II
also uses these rough leaves on our skin,
and we say ''the flies bite" According
to an English naturalist, flies really
have teeth. These are not of bone like
the teeth OF the higher animals, but Of
'chitine," peculiar substance of which
the hard parts Of insects consist. A
large share of the flies die at the end OF
the warm season, but enough to keep up
the stock hide themselves in hooks and
crevices, and there pass the winter.
They come out of their hiding places on
the return of spring. The blow-fly, the
cheese-iy, and others are very different
in habits from the house fy.-4mericon
Agriculturist.