THE FLY. 73 



existence is not unattended with danger. That it is 

 massacred and poisoned wholesale by man^ falling a 

 victim to its keen appreciation of the sweets of life ; 

 that it is devoured by birds, cats and other qua- 

 drupeds, spiders, &c. ; tortured and crushed to death 

 by children, and dissected by microscopists, you are 

 doubtless well aware. But there is another peril to 

 which it is subject, and of this you are perhaps not 

 cognizant; this is a curious disease to which vast 

 numbers fall victims towards the close of the autumn, 

 and, although highly interesting to the naturalist and 

 microscopist, it must be a fearful infliction to the 

 poor little Fly. As this disease has been very gra- 

 phically described in a recent number of the ' Micro- 

 scopic Journal,' we cannot do better than transcribe 

 a short extract*: — 



"The subject of this paper is the well-known 

 curious disease which prevails among common House- 

 flies at the period when the departing warmth of 

 autumn induces them to seek shelter within doors. 



" At this time innumerable dead bodies of flies may 

 be seen adhering to the windows, walls, shutters, &c., 

 in all parts of the room : the dead insect, although 

 dry, and so friable as to crumble into dust upon the 

 slightest touch, retains so far the attitude of life, that 

 it is difficult, without touching, to believe that it is 

 not a living fly on the point of taking flight. Insects 



* " Empusa Muscse ; the Disease of the Common House-fly. 

 By Dr. F. Cohn." Breslau, 1855. — ' Microscopic Journal/ April, 

 1857. 



