Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors: For Young Folks Part 18

8. Next comes the body, which is soft, long, and flat. The sh.e.l.l is on the back, nearer the tail than to the head. It has a spiral twist, as is shown in the picture.

9. The snail's body, where it touches the ground when he moves, is called the foot. When he moves, the head reaches forward first and takes a firm hold, then the other parts come forward in turn, the tail last.

10. The snail can not crawl over a dry place; so, when he moves, a thick fluid comes out of his foot, moistening the surface as he pa.s.ses along.

11. As he must be saving of this fluid, in dry weather he stays at home most of the time, and comes out only when it is wet enough to crawl about.

12. When the cold weather comes, the snail crawls away to some quiet place, usually under a log or a stone, draws himself into his house, makes a door to keep out the cold, and goes to sleep until spring.

LESSON LI.

_THE FLY AND ITS WAYS._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1. Here is one of our friends that we know very well--the common house-fly. It is here drawn large on purpose, so that we can better see how it is made.

2. The fly is an insect. Its body is divided into three parts; and it has three pairs of legs. Upon its head are two large eyes, each of which is made up of about two thousand small eyes. When we look through a gla.s.s that makes things look large, we can see and count these little eyes of the fly.

3. Its feet are made in such a way that they will stick wherever it places them, so that it can crawl up the walls of the house, or on the ceiling, with its back down.

4. The fly's wings are light and thin, and made up of fine network. It has no jaws or teeth; and, instead of lips, it has a tube, or trunk, through which it sucks up its food, as we can suck milk through a straw.

5. When a fly lights on a lump of sugar, it puts out its trunk, and lets fall a drop of fluid, which is clear like water. This moistens the sugar, and then the fly sucks it up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Fly's Leg, magnified.]

6. The fly keeps himself very clean. After each meal it brushes its head, first on one side, and then on the other, with its first pair of legs. Then it will rub the two legs together to get off the dirt.

7. The fly lays its eggs in the kind of food its young can eat. In a short time a little white grub hatches out, which does nothing but eat until it is of full size.

8. Then its skin becomes hard, and shrinks. It lies still, and does not eat anything for several days; but, inside its hard sh.e.l.l, wings are growing, and by-and-by the sh.e.l.l cracks open, and a full-grown fly comes out.

9. The blue-bottle fly has but two wings, while the common house-fly has four. This fly lays its eggs wherever it can find putrid meat, and the grubs which hatch out eat it all up, and so save us from evil odors and from breathing foul air.

LESSON LII.

_THE ANIMALS' BALL._

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'We'll dance all night,'

Cried the ants with delight."]

"We'll dance all night,"

Cried the ants, with delight.

"Pray tell me why?"

Inquired a fly.

"Because it's nice,"

Explained the mice.

"Oh, very well!"

Laughed the gazelle.

"Yes; but where?"

Demanded a hare.

"Somewhere near,"

Suggested the deer.

"Why not here?"

Crowed chanticleer.

"Yes, this will do,"

Said the kangaroo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'Don't step on my tail!'

Pleaded the whale."]

"Let's be smart!"

Remarked the hart.

"Fetch our gloves,"

Cried the doves.

"And my gla.s.s,"

Brayed the a.s.s.

"Where's my brooch?"

Howled the roach.

"Curl my back hair,"

Ordered the mare.

"Don't step on my tail!"

Pleaded the whale.

"Please take care!"

Begged the hare.

"Oh, my cravat!"

Screamed a gnat.

"I've lost my wig,"

Sobbed the pig.

"Give me a chain!"

Cried the crane.

"My s.h.i.+rt's too narrow,"

Complained a sparrow.

"What will you do?"

Sighed the kangaroo.

"None fine as I,"

Remarked the fly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'I'll play the horn,'

Said the unicorn."]