The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-09-01
The FLY AND HIS WAYS.
Nature Has Provided Him With Tongus
similar to a File.

house hy-that gets into the milk and
butter and has to be kept from the
table by fans has wonderful machine
that is carried about to make life pos
sible. The mouth of the little black
scamp is a curious continuance to get
food out of impossible places.
This mouth is really nothing more or
less than tongue, which runs iri and
out of the head like the tongue of a
snake. When the lowering insect sees
good spot to light on, where there is
prospect of meal, he settles down,
shakes leg or two, and then runs his
mouth out ready for business.
This piece of machinery seems to come
out of the head, and it will always look
that way if you don't take a good peep
at the fly through a glass some day
when he is busy on lump of sugar.
Then you will see that the tiny black
thread just unfolds from beneath the
head, where there is little socket pre-
pared for it.
When the tongue comes out it spreads
and the end divides into two broad,
fat leaves that are planted fat down
on the food that is to be stolen. This
is like nothing so much as pump with
terribly strong draw" that sucks up
all the sweet sirup there may be on the
lump of sugar.
But if the food should be hard and
the fly cannot get good hold of it he
touches a little muscle spring and the
smooth surface of his tongue roughens
up like file. Back and forth these
edges work until the hard surface is
<I1a11 M al ho r
the fly likes are sucked up into the
stomach.
Then the fly balances on four of his
six legs and uses the front pair as
napkin, wiping off his tongue. He is a
neat little fellow and never takes a
mouthful without brushing his face
carefully. OF course it would be far
better if he should use bit of cloth
rather than his hands-they must be
hands if four of the others are feet
but it would be bit awkward for him
to go sailing around with a napkin
tied to his belt. 1t would be funny,
too, wouldn't it?
Then the fly gives a sudden flip of
his wings, making them go SO fast that
YOU cannot see them, and he is off.
Maybe he has been chewing the cover
of book, for there are wonderful fly
Cainties concealed in the coloring mat
ter of the cloth binding, and then when
he skips off he leaves a little spot of
white where he has scraped up the col
or and eaten it. Maybe he has been
standing on the back of your hand sip
ping the perspiration, of which he is
very fond, and then he leaves faint
red mark and slight singing feeling.
Don't be alarmed, though, for the
house fly has nothing of poisonous
sort in him and cannot hurt you. Some
of his cousins have way of biting and
leaving sore places, especially those
| that drink blood, but the house fly is
not a cannibaL He is very well civil
| lied.
But we are far ahead of our story.
We have not seen yet how the flies are
born. 1t is during the hot days of Au-
gust and September that most of the
eggs are laid, and as they hatch out in
about two weeks-sometimes in less
than that-the swarms of the insects
become very thick at that time. AS
the cold weather comes the flies begin
to die off. Many of them, millions,
have died natural deaths before then
the average life of fly is about nine
days-and millions more have trod un-
wisely on sticky paper, and persisted
there in the gum.
Other millions have taken greedy
sips from deadly sweets that have been
spread out on papers and in dishes to
slay them, and their dead bodies have
been swept away into the dust bin.
Still other millions have tumbled into
the milk and gone bravely into the
butter, while few thousand have been
crushed by quick hands or snapped by
rubber bands. Countless numbers have
been eaten by the birds, and even Tab
by and Towser have snapped up a few
hundreds.
So the great fly family has persisted,
and when the first frosts come there
are only few old grandfathers and
grandmothers buzzing slowly around
looking after the nests of eggs that
have been laid carefully in the hooks
and corners to provide for the spring
Then the cold gets too much for them
and they are found some cold morning
lying on their backs or sticking fast to
window pane that is all white around.
So for some months there are no flies,
and at first we are glad and speak of
how nice it is to be without the tor
ments But before the winter is over
we are apt to miss their merry buzzing
and feel lonesome without their CHEEKY,
busy presence. and we sometimes catch
ourselves wishing for a fly.
With what glee do we hail the first
fly of spring! Why, he is like the first
robin out on the frosty lawn. We
speak about him at the dinner table.
1t is great event.
s'Pshaw!" someone says, 81 saw a fly
g. week ago!'
But there, what's the use of trying to
get ahead of folks that are always
noticing little things? They are sure
to beat you in the long run.
How did those two early flies get
out? Where did they come from?
Didn't all the flies die last autumn?
Yes, yes; you are right All the flies
did die last autumn, but before they
died they left some eggs stored away,
and when the warm air of spring came
these eggs Matched, and the little or
phans crept out, the first of their kind,
and were lonesome at first, and buzzed
about sadly until more came and then
they were happy, and the whole bust
ness began over again.
When the shell bursts and out comes
the young fly, he is just as big as when
he tries to drag himself from the gum
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