THE HOUSE-FLY'S MISSION.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 40, 17 May 1907, Page 7

THE HOUSE-FLY'S MISSION.

The common house-fly Ims a partly cular mission to fulfil which is tha t of scavangcr. When the fly is hover-* ing apparently aimlessly around d room it is searching for, and devour-! ing more or less harmful bacilli (the! übiquitous microbe, in other words),) which, as is well known, is always l to bo ■ found floating in-the air, oa>| invisible particles of dust in a wansfl impure atmosphere. When a large' number of flies are seen at one time' in an apartment, it should be reaefi as one of Nature’s danger signals, and the ventilation should be itu-’ proved at once. Certainly the fly avoids fresh air, 1 and low temperature, because there is usually mo work for him to do under those conditions. When the fly settles upon one’s skin, say where the “thatch is thin,” his object is not to annoy one as much as possible (if his feet tickle, that is not his fault), but to remove seme more or less harmful matter. If the said spot, and, of course, the whole of one’s skin, is sufficiently frequently washed with carbolic soap, the harmful matter will not exist, ami the fly will not alight there, because the odour of carbolic soap (not) sufficiently pronounced to be perceptible to the human sense of smell)'! will assure him that his presence on that particular spot is not required.