Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-04-14
alistellaneuus 8eaaima.
FLIES.

There are many thousand kinds of
flies, which are all alike in having only
two wings, the two little threads with
knobs on the end behind the wings,
called balancers, taking the place of a
second pair, and horny or feshy pro.
boscis, or long tongue, with which they
lick up their food.
The common house fly is found
wherever man is. 1t comes with the
warm weather and stays until killed
by the cold but some are saved during
the winter in warm places, and from
these are raised the swarms which fill
our houses in summer. Flies are u.s.
ually most numerous around stables,
because their early days are passed in
dung. The females lay their eggs in
it, and che larvae, or little worms
hatched from them, which are called
maggots, grow up in it until they turn
into flies. The maggots are little
white, skinned worms, without
any feet. They change into pupa
without casting off their skins, and in
eight to fourteen days afterward come
out of the pupa cell perfect flies.
All house flies are of the same size
the very small ones and the very large
ones which we often see about the
house, belong to other kinds. Among
the smaller kinds are the cheese fly,
which lays its eggs in cheese and
makes the maggots which live in it.
The bluebotLled fly, which is one of the
large kinds, lays its eggs in meat,
therefore is found mostly around
slaughter houses and butcher shops.
The common fly is very interest
ing thing when looked at under the
microscope. The wings are so thin
and delicate that one can see through
them, and are divided by little veins.
The eyes are on the top of the head,
and each one is made of 1000 very
small six-sided eyes set closely togeth-
er. The probosicis or tongue is a
wonderful instrument. 1t is between
the antenne, or two little horns which
stick out in front and which serve as
feelers, and is bent up underneath the
head when at rest. When the fly
lights on lump of sugar, it unbends
its tongue and stretches it out, and the
broad knob like end separates into two
fiat leaves, with which it laps up the
sweets. These leaves are strong mus
cles, and have little hairs on them,
which make them rough like rasp'
1t is these which cause the tingling
feeling in our skin when fly lights Oh
the hand or face 20 sip the perspira-
ton. There has been much dispute as
to the reason why flies and other in
sects are able to walk up smooth sur
faces like window-panes and on CELL
ings with the heads downward, as the
soles of the feet are closely set with
bristles. It is now thought that a little
disk at the end of each hair acts like a
sucker, a thin liquid which comes from
the bottom of the feet making them air
tight, and that the pressure of the air
on the outside keeps the fly from fall
ing.
The tsetse fly, of Africa, is not much
larger than the house fly but it is such
pest that it keeps large part oi
that country from being visited. This
fly does no harm to man, the mule,
the ass, the pig, the goat, or to the
wild animals; but its sting is sure
death to the horse, the OK, the sheep,
and the dog. These flies live only in
certain places, and when herds of cat
tie are driven through the parts where
they are, the cattle have to be smear
ed over with dung mixed with milk,
which the tsetse dislikes, and they
travel only by night.-Cyclopedia OF
Common Things.