THE TROUBLES OF THE HOUSE-FLY 



179 



with the tips of his toes besmeared with glue, he 

 is a secure prisoner on the white paper before me. 

 The victim having served his purpose, I was 

 preparing to drench him with a few drops of 

 water to dissolve his bonds and set him free, 

 when I happened to observe a feature which 

 had before escaped my notice. The glue had 

 chanced to secure one of its feet well beneath its 

 body, and now that it was released I discovered 

 that I had made considerably more of a catch 

 with that sweep of my hand 

 than I had imagined. Attached 

 to one of the terminal joints of 

 the front leg there appeared a 

 tiny red object, which I in- 

 stantly recognized 

 as a curious tag 

 which I had seen 

 before, and which 

 forms an occasion- 

 al lively episode in the life not only of house-flies 

 but other flies as well. And what a queer-shaped 

 tag it is, to be sure ! It is not easy to describe 

 its dimensions on account of its changeable pro- 

 portions — now spreading out its two long appen- 

 dages, now contracting into an oblong or rounded 

 outline, or sprawled out in the shape of a curious 

 letter T, and now thrown about in such a helter- 

 skelter fashion by the antics of the fly that noth- 



