374 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



that shows many of the steps in this 

 transformation, including the ludicrous 

 performance of certain kernels that 

 have resumed the habits of the past. 

 The more, it seem-, that they have tried 

 to show what modern corn should he, 

 the louder have they told us the story 

 of those tassel .lavs, for they are on the 

 side of the stalk and their coverings are 

 those of tassel enlarged. Miss Ford 

 has succeeded in producing corn almost 

 of the modern, highly developed form 

 with a vestige of the covering which 

 the single kernel had when it was in 



the wheat-like form, and she has also 

 succeeded in growing corn which shows 

 that the more it has tried to be modern, 

 the more it has betrayed the bumpkin- 

 ism of its past. In the accompanying 

 photographs are visible the various 

 steps in the corn gathered and sent to 

 Arcadia from the few hills grown by 

 Miss Ford. She has performed the 

 task requested of her in an excellent 

 manner. The seeds with full instruc- 

 tions were given to her in March, and 

 in October she returned the result of 

 her season's labors. 



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|V"" V ...» 



Catching "Flies" by Tons a Lost 

 Industry. 



When the government of Mexico de- 

 cided to drain Lake Texcoco, just east 

 of Mexico City, in order to lessen dan- 

 ger of floods during the rainy season, 

 and also to get at the rich soda deposits 

 in the bed of the lake, it sounded the 

 doom of one of the queerest and most 

 ancient industries in the world, that of 

 catching flies for market. 



Since the days of the Aztec lords of 

 Mexico, a small band of natives has 

 made a comfortable living out of the 

 business of supplying the canaries and 

 other pet birds and fine poultry of the 

 United States and Mexico with the 

 delicacy of dry, salted flies. 



Now the lake is drying up, the flies 

 have disappeared, the birds are to go 

 hungry and the fly-catchers have 

 abandoned their pleasant vocation for 

 the drudgery of digging soda from the 

 bottom of a smelly lake. 



Catching flies for market on the 

 shores of Lake Texcoco has been a 

 profitable industry since the days of 

 Aztecs. Until recent years the annual 

 production of dried insects was meas- 



ured in tons, and until this year was 

 sufficient to afford a means of liveli- 

 hood to a small colony of native fly- 

 catchers. 



These market flies are a little smaller 

 than the ordinary house fly. Preserv- 

 ed in the natural salts, they were found 

 to be an excellent food for caged birds 

 and chickens, and hundreds of sacks 

 were shipped annually to bird dealers 

 in the United States and Germany. 



The insects are caught in nets as 

 they swarm near the lake's surface, 

 killed by drowning in the water and 

 immediately spread out on sheets to 

 dry. After this simple curing process 

 they are sacked up and are then ready 

 for market. 



Some are used in Mexico, but the ex- 

 cellent demand which has grown up 

 for them in other countries within the 

 last few years has greatly increased the 

 price and lessened the local demand. 



During 1909 more than $10,000 

 worth were shipped to Europe alone. 



The profession of fly catching and fly 

 preserving has been handed down from 

 father to son in a few families who 

 have held a monopoly on the industry 



