FLIES. 103 



The raison d'etre of the fly has not yet been discovered. 

 Naturalists tell us that he belongs to the order of Diptera 

 that is, that he has but two wings but they cannot tell us 

 much more about him. The common house fly is provided 

 only with a proboscis, somewhat resembling that of the 

 elephant, with which he takes up moisture ; but he has a 

 cousin exactly resembling him, who when, relying upon this 

 likeness, you allow him to settle on the back of the hand, 

 neck, or other surface of flesh, instantly digs in a sharp 

 lancet, which is capable of drawing blood. Happily, how- 

 ever, this treacherous cousin is comparatively rare, and 

 none of the poets appear to have been familiar with him. 

 But if in England it is still doubtful why the fly was created, 

 there is no hesitation on that point in foreign countries. 

 There the consensus of opinion is unanimous. The fly was 

 made to try the patience of man. He was intended to 

 make human life a burden by his buzzing, his settling, and 

 his tickling, by the zeal he shows in rendering food uneat- 

 able, and by the cunning with which he circumvents all 

 the efforts of man to interfere with his designs. 



No one, indeed, can watch a fly engaged in the work of 

 human torment without entertaining a suspicion that he is 

 possessed of a certain diabolical instinct. So long as the 

 man is wide awake, the fly will keep at a distance, unless, 

 indeed, he sees that he is engaged in writing, and that his 

 hands are ineffective for offensive purposes. The instant, 

 however, that drowsiness steals over the subject, the fly, 

 who has pretended to be taking no notice whatever of him, 

 but to be engaged in a game of touch-as-touch-can with two 

 or three of his comrades in the air, at once gives up his 

 romps and takes to business. Choosing the most sensitive 



