44 THE HOUSE FLY—DISEASE CARRIER 
idea that the species constantly hibernates in this con¬ 
dition. Upon the emergence of the adults which he 
reared in confinement in February, they were trans¬ 
ferred to a large net cage and were kept alive success¬ 
fully for eleven and one-half weeks. The original flies 
caught in the kitchens in February were kept in cap¬ 
tivity for ten weeks. How long they had lived before 
capture, of course, was unknown, but presumably since 
the previous autumn. The question of the length of 
life of the adult fly under all conditions will be con¬ 
sidered in a later paragraph. 
Habits of the Adult Fly 
On issuing from its pupal sheath, the first impulse 
of the adult fly is to feed. After its rest in the pupal 
condition, during which time it has taken no food and 
has subsisted by the physiological consumption of the 
fat cells stored up during the last larval period, it has 
naturally become hungry, and it flies immediately to the 
first point offering sustenance. The sense of smell of 
the typhoid fly must be very keen, although its selec¬ 
tion of attractive odors undoubtedly differs from our 
own. It is very catholic in its choice of food—the milk 
jug and the freshly baked custard pie are apparently 
equally in favor with the slop bucket, the garbage pan, 
and all sorts of unmentionable filth. It knows the odor 
of cooking, and it flies unerringly towards the nearest 
kitchen, although here the temperature of the kitchen 
stove may attract it almost as much as the possibility 
of something good to eat. As has been shown in our 
