CHAPTER VII 



"THE LORD AND MASTER OF FLIES" 



AMONG the curious creatures native to the island is a 

 fierce cannibalistic fly. Fully an inch in length and bulky 

 in proportion, it somewhat resembles a house-fly on a 

 gigantic scale, but is lustrous grey in colour, with blond 

 eyes, fawn legs, and transparent, iridescent wings, with a 

 brassy glint in them. The broad, comparatively short 

 wings carry a body possessing a muscular system of the 

 highest development, for the note flight produces indicates 

 the extraordinary rapidity of the wing vibrations. Some 

 swift-flying insects are said to make about eight hundred 

 down strokes of the wing per second. This big fair 

 fellow's machinery may not be equipped for such mar- 

 vellous momentum, but the high key that he sounds under 

 certain circumstances indicates rare force and speed. No 

 library of reference is available. The specific scientific 

 title of the insect cannot therefore be supplied. Possibly 

 it does not yet possess one, but it is a true fly of the family 

 asilidce, and being a veritable monster to merely sportful 

 and persistent if annoying flies of lesser growth, no doubt it 

 will continue to ^perform its part even though without a 

 formal distinction. Its presence is announced by an 

 ominous, booming hum. It passes on one side with a 

 flight so rapid as to render it almost invisible. You hear a 

 boom which has something of a whistle, and see a yellowish 

 glint ; the rest is space and silence. In half a minute the 

 creature returns ; and thus he scoops about, booming and 

 making innocent lightnings in the clear air. The tone is 

 dem onstrative, aggressive, triumphant ; but the monster is 

 only reconnoitring seeing whether you have any flies 



about you. You may have boasted to yourself there being 



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