4 o 4 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION 



of flies, almost without exception females, which have 

 sought shelter and been preserved through .the inclemency 

 of winter, are ready in the spring-time to lay fertile batches 

 of eggs from which the hordes of a new generation would 

 arise. Another source of attraction lies in our food supplies, 

 an acquired taste for which induces flies, such as the Common 

 House Fly (Musca domestica) the Blow-Flies or " Blue- 

 bottles" (Calliphora erythrocephala and C. vomitorid), to 

 spend the greater part of their existence indoors. The 

 wide adoption of this new habit is well attested by the 

 multitudes of fly-papers, fly-traps, and other death-dealing 

 devices whereby man endeavours to protect himself from his 

 detested messmates. 



Flies have been followed into houses by Spiders, several 

 of which have adopted the domestic habitat, spite of 

 Titania's remonstrance 



Weaving spiders, come not near. 

 Hence, ye long-legged spinners, hence. 



The Common House Spider, Tegenaria derhamii, shows 

 preference for dwelling-houses, while others, such as Lepty- 

 phantes nebulosus, are plentiful in some warehouses, and 

 a few, as the introduced Theridion tepidariorum, frequent 

 warm greenhouses in Scotland. 



But the fauna of houses is almost without end a wing- 

 less (Apterous) insect, the "Silver-fish" (Lepisma), hides in 

 disused cupboards, chests of drawers, or amongst sugar, 

 sometimes in the company of a Beetle Niptus hololeucus; 

 other Beetles make their home in household properties 

 Anobiiim paniceum in bread and stored goods, and Furniture 

 Beetles, Xestobium tesselatum in rafters and lintels, Ptilinus 

 pecticornis and Anobiiim domesticiim in furniture, where the 

 latter, the " Death Watch," ticks its false portent of death 

 in the still hours of the night, as Dean Swift humorously 

 put it 



Then woe be to those in the House who are sick, 



For sure as a Gun they will give up the Ghost, 



If the Maggot[!] cries click when it scratches the post. 



There are besides, the Bugs of old houses (Cimex lectularius] 

 and the Common Flea (Pulex irritans}, bred in dust and dirt 

 sometimes in such incredible numbers that the Rev. James 

 Waterston has observed " a steady stream of larvae (chiefly) 



