muck fly

English

Noun

muck fly (plural muck flies)

1. (obsolete) A fly found on, or associated with, dirt or dung.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, chapter 103, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, volume IV:

     [T]he naturalist […] next appealed to the patron's approbation for a curious disquisition he had made, touching the procreation of muck flies, in which he had laid down a curious method of collecting, preserving and hatching the eggs of these insects, even in the winter, by certain modifications of artificial heat.

   • 1940, Erling Christophersen, translated by RL Benham, Tristan da Cunha, The Lonely Isle, page 200:

     Less appetizing were the hordes of green, shiny muck-flies which were to be found all over the island, even amid the thickest tussock.