Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1886 — Little Gauze Wings. [ARTICLE]

Little Gauze Wings.

Flies! who does not think of them as only tormenting little creatures, always buzzing about in the most annoying sort of way, and often tantalizing to the last degree, for as certainly as one may brush the insect away, just as Burely will it return to the very samo place, with Buch persistence that one feels in frantic despair at ever getting rid of it. At such a time one can scarcely give a thought as to whether it lias the slightest beauty, and is a daintily-formed little creature, this eonjmon house-fly, with which every one is familiar. It is a wonderfully beautiful subject to examine through tho microscope; tho legs and feet so slight that it seems as if a touch must surely break such frail things, and still there is wonderful power in these samo small foet, for the fly can as easily walk on the ceiling over our heads as he can walk on the table before us, and this power ho derives from the suckers with which his feet are provided, and at the same time a fluid exudes from the suckers, which causes such groat adhesion that even on the most highlypolished surface the fly can remain in a reversed position for a long time. The hard covering of the body of this insect consists of three layers, and the membrane Of the wings is a filmy expansion of the outer one or epidermis. The ribs or veins of the wings arc tubes through which air is conveyed. The wings are thinner in appearance than gauze, and the fine, delicate veins—or fibers seem scarcely covered, except when the light falls upon them and causes them to flash with brilliant prismatic colors, green, crimson, and purple, till they seem like beautiful gems. The head of the insect is large, and of the softest jet black, and in the mouth is a wonderfully-constructed little tongue, somewhat like that of the butterfly. Flies are very particular about keeping their eoats carefully polished till they are of dazzling brightness, and many a time they may be seen busily and briskly rubbing with their feet, as these serve the purjvose of a brush, first one and then another part of their small bodies, w hich they thus put in order. Flies are fond of sweets, as every one knows, and are thereby attracted from every direction. Quassia is very fatal to them, and is safer to use for their destruction than almost anything else. Flies exist in all parts of the world, anu there are many species, some of which serve for medical purposes, such as cantharides, or Spanish fiy, and there are many which are only destructive and tormenting. Perhaps, since .we have stopped for a moment to think of the beauties of these small creatures, and consider how exquisite and wonderful is the mechanism of each minute part which has been formed by the Creator of the universe, we shall not look so slightingly upon these insects, and it may help us to feel less impatient with their teasing ways.— Vick’s Magazine.