Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-06-23
DEALING IN DRIED FLIES.
Central American Specimen Whose
Bite Is Often Fatal.

central American Specimen Whose
Bite Is Often Fatal.
Il import anything under the sun
that see any money ill.," said a down.
town commission merchant in answer
to a n. Y. Tribune reporter the other
day.
Brought in anything curious late
ly?" asked the inquisitive visitor.
well, no bric-a-brac or curiosities
of that sort. deal in the plain, every
day, homely products of nature, but l
think | have something here which
will surprise you for all that. What
do you say to box as big as bale
OF hay filled with the compressed bod
les of dried fiies?"
"Flies!' exclaimed the reporter.
"What kind? Spanish flies?"
Not particularly Spanish, just Span
ish-American. They're from Mexico,
and include any kind of fly that flies,
and all kinds of flies that fly, should
say. james," to a boy, "bringa scoop
full of those dried flies for this young
man to write about"
James went with grin to bale in
the warehouse behind the office and
came back with shining brass scoop
running over with thin, dry, flat
things, which on inspection proved to
be flies of all sizes and colors, with
sediment of broken wings and de-
tached legs.
what are they for?" asked the re-
porter.
people buy them to feed to their
singing birds. | sell them retail to
/ the dealers, who tell me they are espe-
cially good for some birds at any time,
and for others at certain times of the
year"
q should say they would prove
pretty expensive diet. Just think of
the time and labor spent in catching
so many tiies!"
you forget, young man, that
Mexican Indian is not a Knight of
Labor. His time is about as valuable
as that of a setting hen. Flies are
thicker, too, in the tropical valleys of
Mexico than you have any idea Of
something like mosquitoes in a New
Jersey swamp, or shall we say, as
thick as blanks il a lottery?"
well" continued the speaker, "the
Mexican Indian who can no longer
| sleep in his hut on account of the
| swarms of flies attracted by the filth
which accumulates about his front
| door sometimes is stung into desire
| for revenge on his enemies. Revenge
is sweet, and sweeter if there is any
morey in it. He goes to the woods
and collects number of green twigs
| of certain tree. These he lays in a
| pile on the floor of his hut, with some
| dry twigs under them. Then from an
! boils into thin syrup and spreads on
cted by its fragrant and far-reach-
~ odor. They gather to feed on it.
| Whenlthe hut is black with them the
Indian sets fire to the tWigs on the
floor and closes the apertures from the
outside. The twigs emit an aromatic
smoke which kills the flies, and they
fan to the floor in thousands. Then
the natives wife dries them while he
goes to sleep again"
Here's a find for you," continued
lhe merchant, as he singled out a big
ger fly than usual. This is a speci-
men of the man-eating fly of Central
America This is a fly which inhabits
the lowEing coast regions of Central
| America and is much dreaded by the
natives fkr the fearful results which
follow il sting. Naturalists call it
Lucilia ominivoria. The average
specimen is about a third of an inch
long. 1t has big head. as you see,
with the yes on top. Its cheeks are
a golden yellow, its abdomen dark
blue with purple bands, its legs black,
its wings unusually big, and they pro-
duce G. tinuous and loud buzzing
when in Notion. The person bitten
by this tiyIgets disease called myia-
sis. 1t gei orally begins with an itch
ing of the bose, then that organ swells
and bleeds lneXt it becomes liberated
and in these ulcers may be found the
Larvae of the fly The whole face be-
comes swollen, erysipelas sets in, fol-
lowed by meningitis and death. One
man, | knew, shot himself after he had
been bitten rather than face the tort
ures he knew were certain. Cure is
difficult. Simultaneous injections of
chloroform sometimes do good, but as
| often fail. One man | heard of was
cured by lemon juice injected into his
| blood"