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Maggots own a heater, Canadian flag flies high, the first leap year

Q: Why are maggots and pupae better able to survive the winter than adult flies? — Lanney, Sandia Park, New Mexico

Life cycle of house fly [Jim Kalisch, University of Nebraska]

A: A fly lives as one with her surroundings — no matter what stage of her existence: maggot, pupa, or adult. When it’s cold, she’s cold. When it freezes, she freezes and may die.

Things that stick out freeze more quickly. Maggots and pupae have a great advantage — nothing sticks out. A maggot is a worm-like tube, creamy white and greasy looking. No legs, no wings, no antennas (not even eyes). Likewise, a pupa has no appendages — a simple chestnut-brown oval object quietly transforming into an adult. So, a maggot or a pupa can withstand colder temperatures than an adult fly because of their shape.

The maggot has another great advantage: her heated home. A poor adult overwintering outside must seek a kindly crevice that may keep the wind out but does little else. Whereas, a maggot basks in 70 degree F (21 C) warmth at the bottom of a manure heap.

She gets her furnace courtesy of aerobic bacteria. These creatures eat manure, decompose it, and release heat in the process. The heap bottom can reach temperatures of 170 degrees F (77 C).

By the way, some flies, especially maggots but even adults, adapt to winter cold. "Most insects that survive winter in cold climates produce ‘antifreeze’ compounds so the blood and body tissues won’t freeze," says John Meyer, entomology professor at North Carolina State University. Various Arctic insects routinely supercool to -40 degrees F (-40 C) and, upon thawing, live.

Further Surfing:

WonderQuest: House flies — here today, gone tomorrow

North Carolina State University: Insect development

Canadian flag flies high

Q: I heard over the Internet that the American flag flies over Parliament Building on the Canadian $2 bill. Is that true? Shirley, McCook, Nebraska

Detail of Canadian $10 bill showing Parliament Building and its flag. [Paul Wallis, www.cdnpapermoney.com]

A: No. Many repeat the rumor that the 1986 Bank of Canada $2 note depicts the U.S. Flag over the Center Block of the Canadian Parliament.

But,the rumor is untrue says Paul Wallis, a member of the Canadian Paper Money Society and owner of www.cdnpapermoney.com.

The Canadian Maple Leaf flag adorns the $2 bill’s Parliament Building. The Canadian $10 bill, however, has what sure looks like an American flag flying over the Parliament. But, that’s not true either. It’s the Canadian Red Ensign, which was the Canadian flag from 1870 until 1965. The Maple Leaf flag became the new flag of Canada only in 1965.

"An American flag has never appeared on any Canadian Banknote (and why would it?)," says Wallis.

Further Surfing:

Canadian Paper Money: Flag Rumour

The first leap year

Q: When was the first leap year? — Adam, North Carolina and Katie, Sidney, Ohio

A: Julius Caesar introduced the first leap year in the middle of the first century. The Roman calendar had gotten into a first-class mess by then.

You see, the Western calendar that the world now uses started with the Romans and the Egyptians. The idea was simple enough — to let farmers know when to plant and harvest crops. Romans, however, also had to honor the gods. Farmers live by the Sun and the seasons of the year but, unfortunately, the gods, by the Moon.

The Romans chose a lunar calendar to please the gods and reaped trouble with the farmers. By 50 BC, the vernal equinox fell on the Ides of May — eight weeks after the first day of spring! So, calendar authorities started sticking days in the calendar to correct the confused situation. That, however, didn’t solve the problem. Lunar won’t work.

In the middle of the first century, Julius Caesar rescued the system by assigning the problem to Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer. Sosigenes ditched the lunar calendar and reverted to a solar one, like the Egyptian calendar. The new calendar had 365.25 days, a day shorter than the solar year. Caesar directed that an extra day be inserted every fourth year — the first leap year.

The Julian calendar was still wrong, though. The correct value for the solar year is 365.242199 days. By 1545, the vernal equinox had shifted 10 days before the occurrence of spring. Pope Gregory XIII asked the Jesuit astronomer, Christopher Clavius, and the astronomer and physician, Luigi Lilio to correct the calendar. They closed in on the true value with a 365.2422-day year. Even by their reckoning, the calendar was off by 3.12 days every 400 years. Consequently, they devised the "leap year" rule that we still use: "insert an extra day every fourth year but no centennial year unless it is exactly divisible by 400."

Various countries were slow to adopt the new Gregorian calendar. Britain and her colonies didn’t adopt the new calendar until 1752. The Royal Greenwich Observatory marks the first leap year, in the modern sense, as occurring in 1752.

Further Surfing:

The Royal Observatory Greenwich: Timekeeping by the Earth, Moon, and Sun

USA Today, weather resources: Sun, moon, stars, time

(Answered Oct. 31, 2003)