TEXAS NATURj; OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES, 31 



Sprinkle lime or crude carbolic 

 acid or kerosene oil, or boiling 

 hot water with a sprinkling can 

 once every week — but thoroughly 

 — on all manure piles and other 

 filth around the yard, and note 

 the decided absence of the fly 

 pest around your kitchen and 

 dining-room in a^ short time and 

 during the hot summer months 

 to come. Try it and do. it the 

 year around, and, thus avoid such 

 insects as depicted- herein .from 

 nature from daily and :Constantly 

 annoying you and, creeping into 

 your soup, milk iatyg, , foodstuffs, 

 etc. It is to our gwn interest 

 to do something and,' to keep it 

 up during the warm season. 



As is well known a fly's head- 

 parts consists of the two dark 

 and globular eyeballs and the 

 mouth parts at its interior base — 

 comprising the protruding, long 

 tongue or proboscis; and, in such 

 genera of flies which sting — with 

 extra stinging implements — knives 

 and dagger-like implements which 

 the insects gradually work into 

 the skin tissues and capillary 

 layers until blood oozes, which 

 is then absorbed by special suction 

 tubules. The mouth parts vary 

 considerably in different species 

 of flies; the common housefly, 

 and as seen on the microscopic 

 photo above, being void of special 

 knives and daggers, but supplied 

 with a long tongue or suction 

 tube (1 and 2 on photo.) 



This tongue of our common 

 fly species is wonderfully composed 

 of a network of delicate absorption 

 tubules (at 1) which during the 

 act of feeding is supplied by aid 

 of the muscular and very flexible 

 neck part of the tongue's body 

 (at 2) and communicates at the 

 inner base of the flies head and 

 thorax with the stomach. 

 - The eyeball of the common fly 

 consists of numerous prismatic 

 segments (4) which vary hut little 

 in va,rious fly Species, though some 

 show more or less arranged lense 

 segments. " 



In the vicious fly species these 

 lense segments Seem to be more of 

 a cubic formation; however, they 

 vary slightly in appearance during 

 microscopic and photo micrographic 

 reproduction— according to the an- 

 'gle of light reflex applied to 

 ■ illuminate such otherwise invisible 

 objects. 



In the common housefly, as 

 stated, the tongue's suction appara- 

 tus consists of numerous hair-fine 

 capillary tubules arranged in spiral- 

 shape at the apex or lobe of the 

 tongue with which the fly sips its 

 food and absorbs it through these 

 delicate capillary loops. 



In some of the vicious prairie 

 flies and the cattle fly there exists a 

 combination of such suction appar- 

 ati — besides the tongue with which 

 the fluids are aspirated after 

 scarifying their victims with their 

 powerful sting implements. 



Some Rare Prairie Flies 



Our Texas prairie conceals a 

 large variety of more or less 

 vicious fly species among which 

 the so-called humpback fly and 

 'the horse fly will be considered 

 here. 



One of the prairie fly pictures 

 shows same in the act of carrying 

 - its victim — a black wasp. 



Among the numerous and various 

 types of prairie flies, for insta nee. 

 there exists a peculiar and not 

 generally known type of a most 



peculiar fly species which, in one 

 way also, is a useful fly, as it 

 attacks and destroys wasps and 

 other vituperous insects. "This fly 

 has somewhat th6 general ap- 

 ' pearance of a wasp itself, but 

 it has such peculiar and characteris- 

 tic anatomical arrangements that 

 I am sure these insects belong 

 to the fly family, for these reasons: 

 First, they have the same number 

 of haired feet, with the characteris- 

 tic footclaws and footpads, and 



