FLY

a winged insect of various genera and species, whose distinguishing characteristics are that the wings are transparent and have no cases or covers. By these marks flies are distinguished from beetles, butterflies, and gra hoppers. The true flies or Diptera have only two wings, viz. the anterior pair. In common language, fly is the house-fiy, of the genus Musca. The house-fly is found wherever man is, and in hot weather not only causes a good deal of annoyance, but also distributes the germs of several infectious diseases. it is furnished with a suctorial proboscis, from which, when feeding on dry substances, it exudes a liquid that di olves them. From its feet being beset with hairs, each terminating in a disc which is supposed to act as a sucker, it can walk on smooth surfaces, as a ceiling, even with its back down. The female lays her eggs in dung or refuse; the larvee are small white maggots. They change into pup without casting their skins, and in from eight 490 FLY-CATCHER to fourteen days the perfect fiy emerges. The very small flies and the very large ones often seen about houses belong to other species. See BLOW-FLY; Bovr-FLY; GAD-FLY. IMG:fig491_1.jpg: