Rural School Leaflet 1179 



air-tube. What happens when the larvae are disturbed? When they 

 swim do they go head first or tail first? Do they go to the bottom of the 

 jar when left alone ? How do they return to the top ? They find particles 

 of food at the bottom. Note the brushes of hairs on the head. Do these 

 brushes revolve? Why? 



4. What is the main difference between the larva and the pupa? Where 

 do the pupae rest when not disturbed? Can they move? Note two 

 little tubes on the " head," really the thorax, of the pupa. These are the 

 air-tubes. How long does the pupal stage last? When the full-grown 

 mosquito comes forth, how does it get out of the pupal skin? Why does 

 oil on the surface of water kill the larvae and the pupae ? 



5. Find some full-grown mosquitoes and separate the males from the 

 females. How many antennae does the mosquito have? Are these 

 hairy in the female? How are they in the male? On the head of the 

 male are also two other long, hairy appendages, known as palpi. 



6. Are the wings of the mosquito spotted or plain? If plain, it is 

 probably a common Culex. How many wings has it? How does the 

 Culex hold its body when it rests on the hand or the wall? 



THE HOUSE-FLY* 



Alex. D. MacGillivray 



The house-fly, found in all the warmer parts of the world, is a nuisance 

 and a pest wherever it occurs. It is one of the few species of insects 

 that can be identified with certainty by those who have not studied 

 insects carefully. There are many kinds of flies that closely resemble 

 the house-fly in size and general appearance. Few of these frequent 

 the house, however, and even then only a few individuals occur at one 

 time. Over ninety-eight per cent of the flies found in dwellings are of 

 one kind. There is only one species, and it is therefore worthy of the 

 popular name of house-fly. Its habits deserve careful consideration. 



The house-fly is black in color, with five parallel, more or less distinct, 

 grayish bands on the back between the wings. There are two wings. 

 The body and legs are covered with numerous short, stiff hairs, or bristles. 

 New individuals are produced only during the summer season. They 

 probably live for a few days to two or three weeks. On the approach 

 of winter they become numbed with the cold and crawl into a crack or 

 crevice or under rubbish, where they can find comparative warmth and 

 protection. They lie dormant during the winter, scarcely moving until 

 the first warm days of spring when they leave their winter home. 



The first duty of the awakened hibernating female house-fly is to find 

 a place in which to deposit her eggs. For this purpose she seeks a pile of 



* The house-fly is a sucking insect. 



