Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-07-30
The Bees Home Magazine page
If Fly Were as Big as Man u Hi S Sf ha R. Tigers With
BY GARRETT p. sERvIss.

XIII a fly. but study him. He is a
wonderful creature. though menace and
a nuisance. His muscles are as strong
as steels his nerve action is a. quick
as lightning. II you were proportion
ally as strong as Fly you could seize
a beam over your head with your hands,
and, with two tons Of iron fastened to
your feet, easily raise yourself. together
with the attached weight, from the floor.
This calculation Is no mere guess; il
is based upon experiments made by the
Belgian naturalist. Felix Plateau. who
harnessed insects and small animals
OF many kinds in very ingenious ways.
to ascertain their strength.
Likewise, n fly were as big as a
man, and retained his relative strength,
he could kill tigers with his hands and
split asunder the jaws OF lions with much
more ease than Samson did.
II you were as quick as a ny you could
let an oncoming express train travelling
a mile minute. come WITHIN a foot of
your nose and then dodge ~ Strike at
a fly that Is lazily circling with a play
mate before your eyes and observe with
what nonchalant ease he avoids your
blow and instantly returns to his play.
In fact, the swiftest motion that you
can make is to the motive rapldity Of
the fly as the gait OF a strolling walker
to the dash OF an athlete in a hundred
yard sprint. 1t is no more of an effort
for the fly to escape than 1t would be
for you to step from in front Of a slow
moving steam roller. He would be highly
amused IL he thought you were trying
TO hit him.
This qulckness of the fly is in itself a
proof of the excellence of it's muscles
II our muscles were subjected to simil-
arly applications of force they would
snap like pack-threads. And yet a fly
i1 8 tender body. and tested by our
greater total strength. it's members give
no indication of extraordinary tenacity.
II is, OF course, his slight weight which
permits the fly to move so swiftly. II a
fly were composed at material so dence
that he equalled a man in weight its
motive power would be unable to life
him, or even TO enable him to stand on
his legs.
no less interesting results in the case of
ONAcA VI tAiAHuNtt - Dtet
1t has been calculated, is relatively.
thirty times as strong as a horse. When
harnessed TO a weight, and compelled to
draw It, a bee can exert pull equal to
$50 times It's own weight.
Ants and beetles exhibit astonishing
strength In their daily work. The little
ant-lion will put a PEBBLE on its head.
Weighing possibly as much as itself, and,
with a sudden jerk. project it out of its
conieal den to a distance equal to q dozen
or twenty times the tiny creatures own
length. This is as IL a man could seize
u 16o-pound weight, balance IL on his
head, and with a flip of his neck muscles.
hurl it 100 feet away.
But perhaps the prize for strength be-
longs to the Mediterranean crab of which
have read, that can support 492 times
its own weight. II a man could do as
much he would be able to lift thirty
six and a half tons. Even the indolent
oyster is a prodigy Of muscular power.
According to experiments that have been
made. It takes a force equivalent Of nearly