'Housefly (Musca Domestica) is a common insect found in all places. It has a very short life span. Adult houseflies feed on human and animal food and waste materials and often use buildings as shelter.

The housefly is well adapted in structure and behaviour to transmit disease causing organisms from place to place.

The body of a housefly is covered with fine hairs and bristles that readily pick up filth particles.

At the base of each leg there is a cushion-like structure covered with granular hairs.A sticky secretion which excretes from the granular hairs gathers bacteria and other micro organisms which stick to the legs. In order to clean its body and the legs, houseflies rub their legs together. It is estimated that whenever a housefly rubs its legs, lakhs of bacteria are discharged from the legs for each rubbing'

When you see flies rubbing their legs together, they are cleaning themselves. Flies rely on their compound eyes, antennae and the bristles on their bodies and legs to sense the world around them. They have to keep these sense organs clean so they can fly with precision to find food and mates and avoid predators. Flies spend a long time carefully cleaning their whole bodies; if you watch them closely you will see that they don’t just rub their legs together – they run their legs over their bodies, heads and wings too. Particles of dirt from the rest of the body are picked up by its legs as it cleans, and then the dirt is rubbed down the legs and away. It is estimated that whenever a housefly rubs its legs, lakhs of bacteria are discharged from the legs for each rubbing.