Fly glass
A fly jar or fly catcher jar , also known as wasp jar , is a traditional form of insect trap . It consists of a mostly corked glass carafe with the bottom turned inside out, which has a small hole in the middle, so that a channel is formed around the hole. In addition, there are small feet under the floor, which provide a distance between the floor and the stand surface if the fly glass is not hung up. Traps for catching aquatic animals or birds work on a similar principle .
For use, a liquid is placed in the trap that attracts the insects. For flies and wasps are fruit juice , lemonade , honey water or similar sweet fluids. To avoid attracting bees , add some beer to the sweet bait. Blowflies are attracted by water mixed with leftover meat or fish, dew or fruit flies by vinegar water .
Lured by the smell of the liquid, the insects get into the vessel through the bottom hole, but rarely find their way out again because they instinctively fly in the direction of the light - that's why the trap is made of glass. After a while they drown in the liquid.
While fly jars were widely used in the past, they have been largely replaced by fly traps , insecticides and electric traps in the 20th century . Some artisanal glass blowers still produce them today, mostly in the traditional, hand-blown form.
An early, detailed description of an inverted fly jar (opening above) can be found in the Economic Encyclopedia of 1778.
In the Brothers Grimm dictionary it is said that the fly jar is a "jar with a narrow neck in which flies catch". This expression is also used figuratively, for example when people let themselves be lulled by promises. Ludwig Wittgenstein also used the fly glass graphically in his philosophical investigations : “What is your goal in philosophy? Show the fly the way out of the fly glass ”(§ 309).
Modifications
PET bottle as a fly catcher
Horsefly trap
A fly catcher can be easily built using a converted PET bottle . Sugar water, dissolved rock sugar, lemonade, beer, yeast etc. serve as attractants.
A similar principle is used to horseflies to catch. A black plastic ball without chemical attractant is supposed to simulate the rear of a horse and attract the insects. After landing, the insects can only climb up, where they are guided through a funnel-shaped net into a catcher container, from which they can then no longer come out.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johann Georg Krünitz, Heinrich Gustav Flörke, Friedrich Jakob Floerke, Johann Wilhelm David Korth: Economic Encyclopedia or General System of Land, House and State Economy. 1778, Volume 14, p. 235 ( books.google.com ).
- ↑ Fly glass. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 3 : E – research - (III). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1862, Sp. 1787 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
- ^ Text of the Philosophical Investigations .
- ↑ Hydromissions.org ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 90 kB) (English).
- ↑ Daniel Junker: What kind of strange structure is that in Leinemasch? In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung . September 23, 2016 ( haz.de ), accessed on May 5, 2017.
