Fly / Steven Connor.

"Few insects are as universally loathed as the fly. Steven Connor delights in tracking his lowly subject through myth, literature, painting, film and biology. This the first book to give this much maligned animal its due, and it concludes with the transformation of the fly's reputation, as the miracle of its design and function came to be appreciated. The secrets of the fly's uniquely versatile powers of flight are only just beginning to be understood, and the twentieth century, which began with worldwide campaigns for its extermination, ended with the humble fruit fly at the centre of the revolution brought about by genetics."--BOOK JACKET.