Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1881 — The Horrible Fly in India. [ARTICLE]

The Horrible Fly in India.

One of India’s pests is the metallic blue-lly. You sink the legs of your furniture int> metallis sockets filled with salt and water; and pack your clothing in tight tin boxes, to prevent the incursion of white ants; but you have no remedy agaiust the metallic blue-fly, which fills every crevice, every keyhole, and every key itself, with clay. This fly is an artistic as well as an industrious worker, and he works always with an object. He first selects a hole, a keyhole or an empty space ru any metallic substance is preferred, but, iu the at» euoe any such material, the holes in the bottom of a cane-seat chair or any perforates! wood, will answer tlie purpose. After seeing that the hole is clean and in good order, he commences operations by laying on the bottom a smooth carpet of clay; then the bodies of several defunct spiders are triumphantly placed upon the clay carpet On top of these spiders the eggs of the female fly are deposited. The tomb is then ready for closing. The top is neatly covered over with clay, but it still has an unfinished look. This Is remedied by -a thin coat of whitewash, and then the fly looks upon his-work and pronounces it good. When this tomb is opened there are more metallic blue flies in the world than there were before. You are anxious to examine or wear some of your valuables, which you always keep under lock and key, aud you take your key and endeavot to unlock your A trunk, but it is only an endeavor. There is resistance in the keyhole. You examine the key, aud find that it is nicely sealed up with clay, aud the keyhole: in the same condition. It is a work of patience to destroy the nursery of the. poor insect, and lay his castle in ruins; but a determined will can accomplish much. Cane-seated chairs are someti toes so occupied by these clay homes as to make it hard to determine what the original substance was’.