288 MUSCID.E — FLIES. 



constantly filled, says a writer in The Mirror, with millions 

 of small delicate Flies, and the sea in many places, particu- 

 larly on the Norfolk coasts, was perfectly blackened by the 

 amazing shoals. The len2:th of these masses was not de- 

 termined ; but they were, it is asserted, at least a league 

 broad. It is said the oldest fishermen of those seas never 

 remembered having seen or heard of such a phenomenon.^ 



Capt. Dampier calls the natives of New Holland the 

 "poor winking people of New Holland," and concludes his 

 description of them with the following observations : " Their 

 eyelids are always half closed, to keep the Flies out of their 

 eyes, they being so troublesome here that no fanning will 

 keep them from coming to one's face ; and without the as- 

 sistance of both hands to keep them off they will creep into 

 one's nostrils, and mouth, too, if the lips are not shut very 

 close. So that from their infancy, being thus annoyed with 

 these insects, they do never open their eyes as ottier people, 

 and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their 

 heads, as if they were looking at something over them."^ 



In a house at Zaffraan-craal, Dr. Sparrman suffered so 

 much from the common House-fly, Masca domestica, 

 which, in the south of Africa, frequently appears in such 

 prodigious numbers as to cover almost entirely the walls 

 and ceilings, that, as he asserts, it was impossible for him to 

 keep within doors for any length of time. To get rid of 

 these troublesome pests, the natives resort to a very inge- 

 nious contrivance. It is thus related by the above-men- 

 tioned traveler: "Bunches of herbs are hung up all over the 

 ceiling, on which the Flies settle in great numbers; a person 

 then takes a linen net or bag, of a considerable depth, fixed 

 to a long handle, and, inclosing in it every bunch, shakes it 

 about, so that the Flies fall down to the bottom of the 

 bag : when, after several applications of it in this manner, 

 they are killed by a pint or a quart at a time, by dipping 

 the bag into scalding hot water. "^ 



Rhasis, Avicen, and Albertus say: "Bury the tail of a 

 wolf in the house, and the Flies will not come into it."* 



1 The Mirror, xxvii. 68. 



2 Damp. Voy. (vol. i.), 464. 



3 Travels, i. 211. 



* Moufofs Theat. Ins., p. 78. 



