1094 
ft* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 9, 1922 
Questions About Insects 
Answered by Prof. Glenn W. Herrick 
House-flies and Chickens 
I am sending some cocoons of some in¬ 
sect. also some flies of a peculiar sort that 
hatched from these eggs or whatever they 
are. What are they, and have they any¬ 
thing to do with the trouble that 1 have 
been having with my chickens? I lost 
several hundred of my young chicks with 
the so-called intestinal worm found in the 
blind intestines of the bird. I would like 
to know in what form the chick finds this 
worm, when it is picked from the ground, 
nr before any of the flock is infected. 
Every morning when the birds were let 
out of their houses they began picking at 
the ground. Thinking that they were 
eating the earth, 1 paid no further atten¬ 
tion. until one day I found that they 
were really picking up these insects which 
I am sending you for identification. 1 
also found that tbp nearer the house the 
greater in numbers those were found, and 
more numerous yet were they to he found 
In the soil and under small stones about 
the manure barrel. Many of them were 
just hatching. The insect resembled the 
housefly very much, only its head looked 
like a dewdrop, being almost transparent. 
They were very active on their feet, but 
could not flv. f. E. B. 
Hyde Park. N. Y. 
The “cocoons” of F. E. C. were the 
puparia of the common housefly. When 
the maggots that hatch from the eggs 
laid by the housefly become grown, each 
one transforms into a brown, barrel¬ 
shaped object known as a puparium. In 
a few days the puparium breaks open and 
the full grown fly crawls out. At first 
the fly is soft and weak, but soon its 
wings dry and it flies away. 
The houseflies had undoubtedly laid 
their eggs in the manure, for this insect 
selects decaying vegetable matter in 
which to deposit its small white eggs, 
especially stable manure, when it can be 
found. The maggots feed on the manure, 
obtain their growth in about one week, 
and then usually crawl out around the 
edges of the manure pile and change to 
puparia in the soil nearby. 
It is of considerable interest to know 
that the chickens were actually picking 
up the puparia and eating them, but, so 
far as I know, the intestinal worms 
spoken of hy F. E. C. are not obtained 
from the housefly. It has been shown, 
however, that the eggs, embryos and 
larvae of certain parasitic worms may lie 
and sometimes are transported by house¬ 
flies. F<>r example, a parasitic worm 
found in the stomach of the horse is 
often found in an immature stage in 
houseflies and it is not too much to expect 
that the housefly may prove to he a car¬ 
rier of other parasitic worms. If would 
be wise in any case to prevent the flies 
from breeding in the manure barrel, for 
they are a most annoying pest in the 
house, even if not dangerous to the fowls. 
The manure should be removed once a 
week at. least, or treated with hellebore 
by dissolving *4 lb. in 10 gallons of water, 
and after stirrring. allowing it to stand 
24 hours. This amount of stock solution 
applied lo the manure with a sprinkling 
pot should treat about eight bushels. 
Hen manure stored in a barrel would 
probably not lie easily permeated by the 
hellebore solution, and all parts of it 
might not be reached. It would probab¬ 
ly be more effective to remove the ma¬ 
nure once a week and spread it on the 
garden or field. <;i,enn w. derrick. 
“Granddaddy-long-legs, Where Are the 
Cows?” 
That article on the rose chafer was 
worth five years’ subscription to The R. 
N.-Y. Now, can you get one of the nat¬ 
uralists to give us an article on that 
queer insert “Granddaddy-long-legs?” 
Maine. F.C. c. 
Granddaddy-long-legs, hy virtue of 
name, ought to be the patriarch among 
insect-like animals—the father of them 
all; hut. like all other species of animals 
and plants, he is father only of his own 
kind, for daddy-long-legs rings true to 
his family. Of course, there are many 
kinds of daddy-long-legs, but nearly every 
Kind has extraordinarily long, slender 
legs, the particular individual before me 
as I write having the second pair of legs 
reaching just a trifle over 0 in. from tip 
ito tip when laid out straight to the right 
and left and pressed down flat. And 
how he can hurry along with these eight 
long, fragile, lumbering, stilt-like legs, 
straight up the face of a cellar door, over 
pieces of wood, and over stones, plants, 
up the side of a cliff, and even along the 
under side of an overhanging rock, until 
ho scales the face and rests securely on 
top. I hardly sec how an enemy could 
get. at him through this encircling fence 
of legs unless the enemy feigned death 
and, lying low, allowed daddy-long-legs 
to walk over him. for then the low-hang¬ 
ing body could he easily grabbed and 
pierced from below with a pair of strong 
jaws. In addition to this abatis of legs 
the creature has scent glands with an 
opening on each side of the body near 
the anterior end. These glands secrete a 
fluid with an odor which is probably of¬ 
fensive to its enemies and aids in pro¬ 
tecting it from destruction. 
Daddy-long-legs swings its short, fat, 
stubbed body low down from the near 
ends of its high stilt-like legs, like a 
child suspended in a swinging cradle. I 
imagine those long, springy legs, with their 
numerous joints, are the most efficient 
shock absorbers in the world. They look 
as though they might carry one more 
comfortably even than a high-class auto¬ 
mobile. Then again these legs are at¬ 
tached to the body in a conveniently loose 
way, so that if an enemy should chance 
to grab bold of one it would probably 
break off and the owner would go mer¬ 
rily on his way, while the astonished at¬ 
tacker would he left with only :t dry, 
tough, hair-like leg in its mouth. More¬ 
over, the detached leg squirms and whips 
about as though to fool the enemy mo¬ 
mentarily into believing that it 1ms a 
living 'thing in its jaws, thus giving 
daddy-long-legs time to make a safe get¬ 
away with its remaining seven legs. The 
second pair of legs have a strong tactile 
sense, for the creature uses them like 
feelers, constantly tapping the surface 
over which he is crawling, or waving 
them about in the air as though he were 
trying to feel of something, of tell where 
he is, or what is happening, or what 
kind of an enemy may be near. 
Daddy-long-legs has eyes also and he 
ran see—just how clearly or how far 
wo cannot sav— and such curiously situ¬ 
ated eyes! The two round, pop-eyed 
orbs are on the top of a prominent tu¬ 
bercle placed a little way hack of the 
head. There the two eyes sit on their 
watch tower, one looking lo the right 
and the other to the left. And for what 
are they watching? Probably for ene¬ 
mies, and one would think for something 
that might serve as food hut what food? 
Daddy-long-legs are ahundanl about this 
cottage among the trees hy I he lake, and 
I have watched iliem much, yet have 
never seen a single ouc of them eat n 
morsel of anything, insect, plant, table 
refuse, or other substance that might 
serve as food. Notwithstanding, their 
bodies are fat and plump and their legs 
are long and agile, and every last one 
of them seems happy, well fed and con¬ 
tented. One observer says they live on 
the bodies of dead insects and the juices 
of fruits and vegetables, while another 
says some of them, at least, will devour 
living plant lice, and yet another natural¬ 
ist makes the general statement that they 
feed mostly on living insects. Evidently 
there is much still to learn regarding the 
habits of these common and abundant 
animals. 
Nor do we know very much more about 
the life history of daddy-long-legs. Most 
scientists have been concerned with col¬ 
lecting the different, kinds of them, giv¬ 
ing them long, jaw-breaking names and 
making long, dry catalogues of them, with 
technical descriptions of each kind or 
species. Some day a young Fahre will sit 
down in his ItarmQx and find out in de¬ 
tail just how these curious animals live, 
how they hunt, what they prey upon, how 
they rear their families, and all the 
wonders of their lives. 
In the Northern States nearly all 
daddy-long-legs die in the Autumn—only 
one species as yet being known to survive 
the Winters. In the South this does not 
appear to he true, for there where the 
Winters are milder the full-grown indi¬ 
viduals may live through until Spring. 
In the North the adult daddy-long-legs 
lav their eggs in the Fall in the ground 
underneath stones or in crevices of wood. 
Here the. eggs rest over Winter and hatch 
the following Spring into light-colored, 
sometimes snow white young, which grad¬ 
ually grow and become more mature along 
about the time of harvest. The young 
ones are retiring in habits, usually hid¬ 
ing under various objects, and not ven¬ 
turing forth until they become larger and 
stronger. Apparently some kinds of 
daddy-long-legs migrate from the fields 
in which they were born and congregate 
in barns and sheds in considerable num¬ 
bers. 
The name daddy-long-legs is obvious 
enough, but these animals are known un¬ 
der several common names. One of the 
i do re general and perhaps the best known 
names is harvestmen. This undoubtedly 
arises from the fact 'that the young ma¬ 
ture about the time of harvest, congre¬ 
gate here and there in numbers, and are 
most evident about that time. In France 
they are called fouchrurs, which means 
haymakers. In Germany they are called 
afierxpinnen, which means false spiders, 
while in England they are known as har¬ 
vest spiders and shepherd spiders. They 
are certainly closely related to spiders, for 
they have eight legs and probably are. on 
the whole, heneficial creatures, because 
of the insect, pests they may destroy. 
Certainly we do not know of any destruc¬ 
tive or pernicious species of harvsetmen. 
and although they have jaw-like organs, 
we have never known of anyone being 
bitten by them. The writer is accus¬ 
tomed to handling daddy-long-legs with¬ 
out a thought of harm. It will probably 
he to our interest to shoo them gently 
away on their long seven-league legs if 
they prove, annoying hy their presence, 
ratber than hysterically to mangle and 
crush them. 
If hy chance there he one reading this 
who may become interested in these curi¬ 
ous animals, I trust he or she may he 
impelled to study and observe them, for 
here is a comparatively untilled field of 
nature where one may certainly glean 
many facts unknown among our present 
store of knowledge. GLEXN w. HERRICK. 
Breeding Goldfish 
Where cun goldfish be procured for 
breeding purposes? Can goldfish be kept 
in other than glass receptacles? 
Dexter. Me. MBS. I. 0. S. 
Goldfish for breeding purposes can be 
secured through the bird and animal 
slor.es in almost any city or large village. 
The ordinary small fish that are sold for 
use in goldfish bowls are not often old 
enough to breed the first year, but if given 
a large place and plenty of food they 
should grow rapidly and he ready to 
breed the second Spring. Rreoding stock 
of the “fancy" varieties is not so easy 
to get. and it is not so easy to raise. The 
host way to get the stock is to buy young 
fish that have, or promise to have, the 
desired form or color, and keep them 
until old enough. 
Goldfish can be kept in ponds or in 
concrete or wooden tanks or tubs, but 
young ones so kept will not color well. 
Most young goldfish will not show the 
red color at all unless taken from the 
rearing ponds and put in glass tanks. 
A few will change, and it is common to 
see red goldfish weighing a pound or more 
swimming in the “tidal basin” at. Wash¬ 
ington, IX C. The number that will color 
in this way is so small that the fish deal¬ 
er^ who handle bushels of goldfish under 
the name “-and perch” every day will 
see only a few red ones in a season. 
Goldfish spawn in the Spring, and the 
young ones are usually caught out of the 
breeding ponds late in Sommer and taken 
to the dealers' tanks. At first they are 
the color ( ,f a carp, but in a few days 
many of them will be red. Some change 
very slowly, aud a few never change at 
all. Those that keep the ordinary carp 
green and never become red. white or 
black or mottled, are culls, and must be 
thrown away. 
The fancy varieties of goldfish are 
raised in a different way. Many of them 
are so clumsy that, tln^y could not live in 
a pond where there might he waves, and 
they must be kept In glass jars or in 
tank, and require very special care if 
they are to he persuaded to breed at all. 
The breeding of the more deformed fancy 
varieties is as particular a job as raising 
fancy orchids in a greenhouse. 
AI.ERED o. WEED. 
I noticed in your August 12 issue, on page 1002, the reproduction and caption about 
use of stones from field in farm buildings., I felt you might be interested in the 
enclosed photograph of a house which we have just built on the property of the Wood- 
bridge Orehard Company, The chimney shown in the photograph and the founda¬ 
tion. together with another chimney on the other side of the house, was built from 
stones taken off the orchard, and think you will agree with us that it will he rather 
hard to improve this stone work.— r. s. n. 
You may surely call this a Rural New-Yorker family, and these readers are begin¬ 
ning young. The chances are they are studying the original drawings on Mr. Tuttle's 
page. These children live on Dong Island and they are never short of entertainment 
when the paper comes. 
