CHAPTER XII 



THE STABLE-FLY [Stomoxys) 



Fly ! Thy brisk unmeaning buzz 



Would have roused the man of Uz ; 



And, besides thy buzzing, I 



Fancy thou'rt a stinging-fly. 



Fly — ^who'rt peering, I am certain, j 



At me now from yonder curtain : 



Busy, curious, thirsty fly 



(As thou'rt clept, I well know why) — 



Cease, if only for a single 



Hour, to make my being tingle ! 



Flee to some loved haunt of thine ; 



To the valleys where the kine. 



Udder-deep in grasses cool. 



Or the rushy margined pool. 



Strive to lash thy murmurous kin 



(Vainly) from their dappled skin ! 



(CalvekleYj The Poet and the Fly.) 



The common names for common insects in 

 English are confusing. Not only are the 

 same insects frequently known by different 

 names on different sides of the Atlantic, but in 

 many cases quite different insects — ^insects even 

 belonging to different genera — are connoted 

 by the same common name. In this respect 

 matters are different in Germany: partly, 



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