85 



varied beauty of flower-tints and markings have this 

 useful purpose in view. 



The close connection that exists between insects 

 and flowers has been much studied of late, and it 

 has been ascertained that many plants cannot produce 

 seed unless their flowers are visited by insects. When 

 orchard-houses were first built, and stocked with 

 peach, nectarine, and other trees, scarcely any fruit 

 was produced, because no provision had been made 

 for allowing bees to enter and do their useful work. 



This was the case in my own peach-house years 

 ago, so a bee-hive was introduced when the blossoms 

 were ready for fertilisation, the busy insects did their 

 work effectually, and a good crop of fruit was the 

 result ; but the poor bees could not find their way 

 back to the hive, and they nearly all died. To obviate 

 this sad disaster, the gardener has learned to fertilise 

 peach-flowers by brushing them lightly with a hare's 

 foot, which detaches the pollen and conveys it to the 

 anthers without injuring the blossom. 



THE COMMON HOUSE FLY (Musca domestica) 



It is rather surprising that, as a rule, so little is 

 known about the life-history of the common house 

 fly. The creatures abound in our houses, we have 

 been familiar with them from childhood, but where 

 they come from, how they propagate, and what are 

 the stages of their life-history, who can tell us ? 



Perhaps it may be interesting to throw some light 

 upon thi.s domestic plague, and more especially will 

 this be useful because a little knowledge about flies 

 will enable us greatly to reduce their numbers. 



The common house fly lays its eggs in vegetable 



