A Talk about the Fly. 67 



A Talk about the Fly (House-fly). 



The children should catch several flies. If possible, 

 each child should have one or two. 



Let us look at this little fly. How many wings has the 

 fly? What color are the fly's wings ? What shape are they ? 

 How many parts has a fly's body ? We call .the part next to 

 the head the chest or thorax. We call the other part the 

 abdomen. Ab-do-men is a big word. I will write it on the 

 board. You may write it on your slates. Now, Nellie, you 

 may tell us something about the fly. " The fly has three 

 parts." That is very good indeed. Georgie, what else did 

 we learn about the fly ? "He has two wings." "The wings 

 are clear." "There are fine marks on the wings," etc., etc., 

 will easily come out. 



On which part of the fly do the wings grow ? On which 

 part do the legs grow ? How many legs has a fly ? Now 

 lock carefully and see if you can find two little balls, one 

 on each side, near the wings. Tell them that these little 

 balls (balancers) are to keep him steady when he flies in 

 the air. Call attention to his red eyes, and to his peculiar 

 mouth, which can be easily seen in most flies. Get them to 

 tell you all they can about flies ; their habits, food, etc. Tell 

 them that the fly lays her eggs on meat or other animal sub- 

 stance, and that the eggs hatch into maggots. These de- 

 velop into flies. What animal is the enemy of flies ? How 

 does he catch them ? Did you ever see a spider catch 

 a fly? 



Select one or two good specimens and pin them to a 

 board, or, better, to the inner surface of a pasteboard box. 

 Ask the children to see how many kinds of flies they can 

 find to put in your collection, as house-fly, horse-fly, bee-fly, 

 bot-fly, bottle-fly, etc., etc. 



Bring out the fact that true flies have never more than 

 two wings. What kind of food do flies like sweet or sour, 

 solid or liquid? 



When are flies most common ? What do we do to keep 



