The sun., 1898-07-31
NOTHING LACKING IN THE F1H
He Is Admirably Constructed for Serving
the Purposes of His Creation.

He Is Admirably Constructed for Serving
the Purposes of His Creation.
From the Kansas City Star.
The humble househy Is one OF the oldest and
always has been one Of the most distinguished
OF insects. Ho was worshipped by the ancients
and placed as a constellation in the heavens.
The Philistines sacrificed to Beelzebub as god
Of flies and the Cyreneans to Achor. The
Greeks offered an OK every year to Zeus Apom-
yios in honor of the god OF flies: and the Ro-
mans sacrificed yearly In the temple OF Her.
acles Victor in Rome. The Syrians. too. tried
to appease the troublesome god. The Koran
of the Mahometans promised that AL files
shall perish except one. and that is the bee fly"
Despite their antiquity. flies are still some-
thing Of a mystery, and it was not until 1884
that DIR. J. E. Rombout. French entomologist,
discovered and advocated the correct theory Of
how a housefy walks on ceiling. DIR. Rom
bout proved that the fly clngs to a smooth
surface by capillary force. the molecular action
between solid and liquid substances. The n
sects' feet are covered with many thousands OF
fine hairs. each OF which terminates in bulb.
Through these hairs runs thin liquid that
seeps through in tiny drop at the end When
several thousands Of these drops have been
fastened to a window pane or ceiling there Is no
difficulty at all for the fly to hang on and no
difficulty for him to release himself instanta-
neously.
This is the theory Of Rombout. obtained after
some very fine calculations A once popular
idea was that the feet Of the fly. being cup
shaped. enabled him through what is called
suction to cling to the ceiling But Blackwell
put ilies in glass vacuum. where they climbed
the sides as easily as in the open air. Hooke
next tried to prove that the fluid the feet OF the
fly sent out was vscous and held the insect to
the surface like mucago. This theory was ex-
ploded by Rombout. who, proved that the fluid
would be absurd 70 suppose that fly. after
resting iq one position for az hour a1d giving
himself hin stff nstan t @ when aiarmed '''
Then lombout set about formulatin" his
own theory. He examined the tracks les
force impressed him. He dipped the end OF 4
hair in oil OF olives, and succeeded in suspend
brought the same result as oil Of olives. BY a
series of fine calculations Rombout found that
SUPPORTING an increase over bis own Weight Of
2 Of grain he fo9 ne fhs T d0Tn nS es
| by experiment that his reckoning was correct
| Rom bout. in the course OF his Experiments
y Shs Of %nSs nfs he ssa sSoq Is
serve as a flne brush to clean the feet. When a
body. but Is often removing the dust, particles
from the hair in his feet that the fluid may run
better, The feet must be kept clean or the fly
| cannot cling to surface. He finds 1t imposs-
| ible TO walk across pane covered with dust
and oily surfaces cause the =. aid from his feet
| to run together. so that he is apt to slip.
Under the wings OF fly is pair OF balancers,
| little threads that terminate each in an oval
button. When the ny is on the wing these but
| lungs. but breathes by spiraeles or breathing
| pores. that lie open oil over his body and con-
| meet with an intricate system OF air tubes.
| These spiracles are protected from the dust by
| networks Of fine. hlmv flbres that look some
| thing like exquisite lucework.
| The chief value Of the fly lies In his scavenR-
| ing qualities. Indeed. some scientists say that
| without his assistance man would not be able
to live in the temperate zone. The ny feeds on
both liIuIds, and solids. His mouth Is shaped
something like pump. and he sips perspira-
tion and saliva, his fayorite foods, through fine
| and cunning tubes Solids he reduces tn
| liquids before he swallows them by a process
| of secretion. He is a voracious eater. and lives
largely on the juices Of decaying meat. fruit
| and vegetables. Linnaeus. the Swede. asserted
that three flies with theirprogeny could devour
| dead horse as quickly as lion could. 1t has
been estimated by scientists that ny can null
four hours. Each newborn fly becomes full
grown in four or Ave days.
Nature has provided well for the fly In his
powers of flight and ability TO escape from
danger. He Is supplied with 1000 separate
eyes that never sleep, and can look either In
front or behind. Each eye is separate and OF
peculiar construction shaped like a hexagon
When alarmed the fly leaps swiftly from his
resting place into the air, detaching his legs
with no apparent difiicalty After the first
sumes ] his ieisureiy night II he Chooses, how,
ever. he can fly twenty-five or thirty feet In q
| second.