3 6 



INSECTS AND OTHER SMALL ANIMALS 



fleas, and mosquitoes, although fleas are usually 

 placed in an order by themselves. As is indicated by 

 the name Diptera, they have but two wings (one pair). 

 Some members of the order have no wings, or such 

 small ones that they cannot be used for flight. The 

 mouth parts are adapted for piercing or sucking. 

 The metamorphosis is complete. 



Common House Fly, the Typhoid Fly. If this insect 

 could be seen through a large magnifying glass at all 



times, it would not be so 

 common in the home 

 and on the food that 

 we eat, for the house 

 fly is a disgusting-look- 

 ing creature, its legs 

 being covered with bris- 

 tles which are usually 

 covered with filth and 

 often with disease germs. 

 A few flies that live 

 over the winter in the 

 house or stable come 

 out in the spring. The 

 female lays her eggs in 

 manure of any kind or 

 in some decaying ani- 

 mal or vegetable matter. She will also lay eggs on 

 fresh meat or in open wounds. In twenty-four hours 

 the eggs hatch and the maggot, or larval, stage is begun. 

 This stage lasts about one week. The skin of the 

 larva then hardens and turns brown, forming the coat 

 for the pupa. It remains in the pupal stage for about 

 one week and then emerges as a fly. 



FIG. 158. Typhoid Fly. 

 a, natural size; b, magnified. 



