The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-06-16
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FACTS ABOUT FLIES
ADMIRABLY CONS RUCTED FOR THE
PURPOSES OF THEIR CREATION,

Thousand Eyes.
The humble Lousefiy is one of the
oldest and always has been one of the
most distinguished of insects. He
was worshipped ly the ancients and
placed as Il constellation in the
heavens. The Philstines sacrificed to
Beelzebub as god of flies and the
Cyreneans to Achor The Greeks of
fered an OK every year to Zeus Apomy-
los in honor of the god of flies, and the
Romans sacrificed yearly in the temple
of Heracles Victor in Rome. The Syri-
ans, too, tried to applease the trouble
some god. The Koran of the Mo-
hametans promised that ''all flies shall
perish except one, and that is the
beefy."
Despite their antiquity, flies are still
something of a mystery, and it was
not until 1884 that DR. J. L. Rombout,
French entomologist, discovered and
advocated the correct theory of how
a hOuSefy walks on ceiling. DIR.
Rombout proved that the fly clings to
smooth surface by capillary force, the
molecular action between solid and
liquid substances. The insects feet
are covered with many thousands of
fine hairs, each o. which terminates
in a bulb. Through these hairs runs
thin liquid that seeps through in a
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 instantaneously.
This is the theory of ROmbout. OBJ
tanned after some fine calculations.
a once popular idea was that the feet
OF the fly. being vup-Shaped. enabled
him through what is called suction to
cling to the ceiling. But Blackwell
puts flies in a g'ISS vacuum. where
they climed 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 viscous. and held the insect
to the surface Ike mucilage. This
theory was exploded by Rombout who
proved that the tl'id was not viscous.
And if it We're said he, it woulu be
absurd to suppose that a fly. after
resting in one position for an hour
and giving the Tick liquid time to
harden. could rel, Use himself instan-
taneously when alarmed.
Then ROmbout set about formulat-
ing his own theory. He examined the
tracks of flies on window pane, and
the idea of capillary force impressed
him. He dipped the end of Il hair
in oil of olives and succeeded in Sus-
pending the hair from clean glass
pane. Water brought the same result
as oil of olives. BY series of fine cal
culations Rombout found that a fly
could walk upward on a vertical glass
pane supporting an increase over his
own weight of .02 of a grain. He then
weighed down flies with papers at
tached to their backs and found by
experiment that his reckoning was cor
rect.
Rombout, in the course of his eX-
perments. discovered other interest
ing things about the fly. Each of the
two wings of the insect is provided
with hairs on the underSOle that serve
as fine brush to clean the feet When
fly rubs his legs he is not always
washing his body, but is often remov-
ing 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 Il surface.
He finds it impossible to walk across
a pane covered with dust and oily
surfaces cause the liquid from his feet
to run together, so that he is apt to slip
Under the wings of Il fly is pair Of
balancers little threads that terminate
each in an oval button. When the fly
is on the wing these buttons expand
and guide the flight A fly has no
lungs, but breath2S by spiracles or
breathing pores that lie open all over
his body and connect with an intricate
system of air tubes. These spiracles
are protected froA the dust by net
works of nne, tilmy, fibres that look
something like exquisite lace work.
The chief value of a fly lies in his
scavenging qualities. Indeed some
scientists say thai without his assist
ance man would not be able to live in
the temperate zone. The fly feeds on
both liquids and solids His mouth is
shaped something like pump. and
he sips perspiration and saliva, his
favorite foods. through fine and cum
ming tubes. Solids he reduces to
liquids before he swallows them by
a process of secretion. He is vo-
racious eater, and lives largely on the
juices of decayng meat, fruit and
vegetables. Lima us, the Swede. as
serted that three lilies with their pro-
geny could devour Il dead horse as
quickly as lion could. 1t has been
estimated by sciei lists that Il fly can
multiply himself 200 times every
twenty-four hours. Each newborn fly
becomes full grown in four or five
days
Nature has prov led well for the fly
in his powers of ight and ability Of
escaping from dai ter. He is supplied
with 1000 separaje eyes that never
sleep and can looN either in front or
behind Each eye is separate and of
peculiar construC on. shaped like a
heXagOn. When armed the fly leaps
swiftly from his sting place into the
air, detaching his egs with no appar-
ent difficulty. AT r the first bound he
is generally out of LANCER, and resumes
his leisurcly fiig It. If he chooses,
however. he can fly twenty-five or
thirty feet in S .ond.
SALUTES BETWEEN BOATS