ORDER VII.—TWO-WINGED INSECTS, OR FLIES. 301 
spots. The wings are covered with millions of small hairs, 
which give them a glistening appearance, as the minute 
hairs can not be seen with the unassisted eye. 
The house-fly is an inhabitant of every country on the 
globe; it is found in the coldest countries of Greenland, as 
well as the warmest portions of the torrid zone, and by 
mankind every where is esteemed a great nuisance. In its 
persevering impudence and provoking titillation it is no re- 
specter of persons, attacking the king on his throne with as 
much freedom as the beggar in the ditch, and leaving ey- 
ery where the dirty remembrances of its offensive assaults. 
Still the poor fly can not be blamed, as it is only seeking 
its food, which consists in the juices of animals and the ex- 
halations from their skin, as well as the moisture of plants 
and vegetables, and the decayed particles of food and offal. 
These flies deposit their eggs in all kinds of manure, and 
hence are found in greatest abundance in the neighborhood 
of stables and farm-houses. Their maggots are also found 
on the corpses of animals, and wherever there is any filth, 
even in spittoons, if they are not constantly cleaned. They 
transform themselves into reddish-brown pupe, from which 
the perfect flies are constantly issuing throughout the sum- 
mer. 
House-fles are often subject to a peculiar disease, the 
symptoms of which are, a considerable swelling of the hind 
body, which is filled with a greasy white substance, pene- 
trating the skin, and accumulating on the surface of the 
body. In this condition we often find them dead upon win- 
dows or flowers, looking as if glued to them with their pro- 
boscis. The cause of this fatal disease is, probably, their 
2, or because they have partaken of 
some poisonous substance. 
The house-fly is not only an inhabitant of every country, 
but it is found at all seasons of the year, although it is 
rarely seen in very cold weather except in warm rooms, or 
intemperance in eatin 
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