THE TROUBLES OF THE HOUSE-FLY 1/9 
with the tips of his toes besmeared with glue, he 
is a secure prisoner on the white paper before me. 
The victim having served his purpose, I was 
preparing to drench him with a few drops of 
water to dissolve his bonds and set him free, 
when I happened to observe a feature which 
had before escaped my notice. The glue had 
chanced to secure one of its feet well beneath its 
body, and now that it was released I discovered 
that I had made considerably more of a catch 
with that sweep of my hand 
than I had imagined. Attached 
to one of the terminal joints of 
the front leg there appeared a 
tiny red object, which I in- 
stantly recognized 
as a curious tag 
which I had seen 
before, and which 
forms an occasion- 
al lively episode in the life not only of house-flies 
but other flies as well. And what a queer-shaped 
tag it is, to be sure ! It is not easy to describe 
its dimensions on account of its changeable pro- 
portions now spreading out its two long appen- 
dages, now contracting into an oblong or rounded 
outline, or sprawled out in the shape of a curious 
letter T, and now thrown about in such a helter- 
skelter fashion by the antics of the fly that noth- 
