Flies in Australia.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3501, 3 May 1890, Page 3

Flies in Australia.

A writer in the (Merbury Press /jbs decsribea his experience with fwstralian flies:—" Oh; those flies I When you get to Bathurst you first realise what a tormint the domestic fly can become. Ho gats into tho corner of your eyes, up your nostrils, into your oars. He visits your cheek &i stings it; he settles on your %tk by the hundred, and always goes out walking and driving, with you. He "blows" your breakfast steak, he befouls your tea, he makes life altogether unpleasant unbearable. But if you complain, tho Bathurst nun says," Call those flies? You. should go to Dubbo to feel flies." . If in. search of the phenomena of natural history you go to Duboo, the red dust joins the fly in mating you miserable; but should you repine, the Dubbo resident exclaims, " Pooh 1 that's nothing; wait till you get to Brewarrina," At Brewarrina, the people refer you to Bourlte for the patent self-acting, grip-action, anucapnic, chokeboro fly, in his pristine purity and activity. At Bourie the natives are discouraged, and bear your growls with tho resignation of despair, -Someone, more'patriotic than tho rest, may bint that the flies and dust are worse at Cobar or Louth; but he does not press the pqipk Bathurst has flies by the thousand, Dubbo by tens of thoujfes, Brewarrina by tho million; Bufßourke boasts, or rather bewails, tho proud pre-eminence of having them by the myriad. It is impossible to convey a' joint of meat from the kitchen to the dining-room without the gravy being blackened with flies; tho uncovered cup of tea becomes the ocean grave of as many as will fit, the cream jug, if let exposed, is in a second dotted with defunot and moribund MpUra, resembling truffles in pate de foie gras, The rest of the army buzz around one's face, swarm up the gasaliers, darken the table cloth and make things lively in general, j Their 1 bite, too, is vicious, and they 11 blow " the human optic literally in the twinkling of an eye. This blow* iug" is peculiar. A fly settles on your cheek, creeps up to the corner of ( the lower eye lid, near the temple or , nose, gives a sting, and hope off just a3 you feel it. Immediately the flesh of tho lid puffs out, and that eye is shut and practically useless for a day or mote. Sometimes the effeots are ■iking, and " blight" caused by fly biM, is common, chiefly in very yjra" children, and not unfrpfluently ■ aB adults. A regular item of yearly expenditure incurred by fathers of families who can afford it is tho transfer of wife and children for the summer months to the cooler regions - of Sydney or the Blue. Mountains. Those who can't afford it, have to pay pretty dearly for eye lotion." :