FLESH-FLY, or BLUE-BOTTLE-FLY (musca somitoria), an insect of the same genus, with the common house-fly (q.v.), which it much exceeds in size, althOugh it is not equal in size. to the blow-fly (q.v.). The forehead is rust-colored, the thorax grayish, the abdomen blue with three black bands. The expanse of wings is nearly 1 inch. It is abundant throughout Britain and Europe generally, and deposits its eggs on flesh, for which purpose it often enters houses, having a remarkably delicate sense of smelling. The maggots are of very frequent occurrence ou meat in summer, notwithstanding all care that can be taken.—A nearly-allied species (ilf. Cesar) is distinguished by its golden green color, and is also common in Britain. It is found in houses from the beginning of spring to the end of autumn. Another lardaria), with silky tawny face, a black stripe on the crown, thorax glittering white,with four black stripes, and abdomen bluish gray, tesselated is most common in the end of autumn, frequenting bushes of ivy and late flowers, and is also a pest of the larder.
FLE'TApthe title of a valuable treatise on the laN1 of England. It is not known by whom this treatise, which is one of the earliest authorities on English law, was written, and it derives its title from the circumstance that it was written iu the Fleet prison. Lord Campbell remarks (Lives of the Chancellors, i. 166 and note): " I shall rejoice if I do tardy justice to the memory of Robert Burnel, decidedly the first in this class, and if I attract notice to his successors, who walked in his footsteps. To them, too, we are probably indebted for the treatises entitled Fleta and Britton, which are said to have been written at the request of the king, and which, though inferior in style and arrange ment to Bracton, are wonderful performances for such an age. Fleta must have been written after the 13th year of the king (Edward I.), and not much later; for it fre quently quotes the statute of Westminster the second, without referring to the later statutes of the reign. .