Come Fly With Me

There has been a lot of publicity lately in scientific circles about a discovery made in Argentina. Dr. Erskine Willis and his colleague Dr. Elsa Sebastian have discovered what they believe to be a new and highly evolved breed of flies. They call it Argentinus Organisus, and they believe that it has only recently (in the past year) come into being.

They discovered these flies quite by accident. Willis and Sebastian are currently in Argentina to study the effect of saltwater on the local vegetation. While taking a break from their field tests, they were enjoying a midday meal, stretched out on the bank of a small saltwater pond. Dr. Willis was the first to notice that several flies had settled on the surface of the potato salad they had brought along. Upon closer look, he noticed that they were not simply grouped on the salad in a random pattern, but in fact in something resembling a line. He called Dr. Sebastian over to observe this strange phenomenon. When these flies were observed under a magnifying glass (Dr. Willis carries his with him wherever he goes), the scientists were astounded to witness the flies actually working in concert to remove the potato salad piece by piece. The fly in the center of the salad was passing bits of potato and celery to the next, who passed to the next, on down the line to the last one, who then flew off with it, disappearing from sight.

Willis and Sebastian decided they needed more documentation, so they packed up their food, planning to return the next day better prepared to observe.

And so they did. The potato salad was set out, with the same result. This time Willis followed the path of the fly that flew off and located its destination farther down the pond bank. Imagine his amazement to observe approximately 30 flies, gathered in one spot but separated into groups, all with a separate pile of food in front of them!

Clearly these new flies have evolved enough to establish some sort of organization in their lives. In the insect world this level of organization is unheard-of and bears careful study.