46 RECOLLECTIONS OF A FLY SEX THERAPIST | NATALIE VAN HOOSE
NATALIE VAN HOOSE writes,
fishes, and watches insects in
her native Florida. Her fiction
has appeared in The Southeast
Review.hold the dubious distinction of being something of
an expert on the sexual behavior of houseflies. This is not due to
some bizarre fetish or fascination with fly sex. Rather, I became the
resident brain on the ins and outs of the reproductive habits of Musca
domestica because my boss told me to.
It was 2005, and I’d been working for Drion Boucias, head of the
Insect Pathology Lab at the University of Florida, for a year when
he suggested I run a full-fledged experiment, a step up from my
usual undergrad lab duties of scrubbing beakers and counting beet
armyworm moth eggs. Drion was a sharp and thorough scientist, old
school in his zeal for research. He’d also biked to work in his boxers
once and puttered around the lab until someone told him he’d left his
pants at home. He was both intimidating and encouraging to stu-
dents, and while he often reminded me he could hire a convict to do
my job for less, he never did.
When he asked what insects I liked working with, I told him I
was game for anything. “I’m not too hot on maggots or cockroaches
though,” I said.NATALIE VAN HOOSE
Recollections of a
Fly Sex Therapist
I