46 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



would feel satisfied that such an effect can only be 

 produced by a sharp instrument. The eye, antennae, 

 and proboscis of the Fly are all objects of great in- 

 terest to the microscopist, and may be found, pre- 

 pared in slides, iu the cabinet of almost every col- 

 lector. They are obtainable at a trifling cost*; a 

 low power, and consequently an inexpensive instru- 

 ment t, suffices to show their structure ; and if 

 you desire to become acquainted with the physiology 

 of the insect, or even to employ a leisure hour 

 agreeably, you wiU find them weU worthy of a careful 

 inspection. 



Having made ourselves tolerably well acquainted 

 with the various organs of sense and nutrition situated 

 upon the head of the House-fly, let us now take a 

 cursory glance at the members of locomotion, all of 

 which we shall find appended to the second division 

 of the body, the thorax or chest. In our fourth 

 letter we enumerated the three parts into which this 

 section of the Fly's body is divided, and mentioned 

 that the little creature possesses three pairs of legs, 

 one pair of wings, and a pair of organs termed halteres 

 or poisers ; the first pair of legs beiag situated upon 

 the prothorax, or anterior ring ; the second pair and 

 the wings upon the mesothorax, or central ring ; and 



* One shilling and sixpence each. The objects which have 

 served to illustrate this treatise were prepared by Mr. Purkiss 

 of Tottenham. 



t A microscope may be purchased for 10s. 6d. of sufficiently 

 high power for this purpose. 



