174 



OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



bodies. It further annoys us by the dark spots of 

 fluid excrement (fly-spots) with which it disfigures any 

 object over which it runs. It is notably the fly of the 

 sugar-basin, for sweets seem very attractive to it; but 

 it is not addicted to the habit of laying eggs on cold 



FIG. 54. Wing of Homalomyia canicularis. 



meat. It is most abundant in the end of summer and 

 towards autumn. 



Very much like this insect, but rather smaller, is a 

 fly which was formerly known as Musca domestica minor, 

 the " smaller house fly." It is now called Homalomyia 



FIG. 55. Wing of Musca domestica. 



canicularis, and may be distinguished from M. domestica 

 by its paler and much more pointed body, which is of 

 a conical shape, and especially by the arrangement of 

 its wing-nervures. To appreciate this distinction, the 

 accompanying diagrams (Figs. 54 and 55), representing 



