Household Insects. 



By Dr. E. P. Felt, New York State Entomologist. 



Country houses are the pleasantest on the face of the earth. 

 The person dependent for a living on the profits obtained from 

 the farm may not have a residence quite equal in some respects 

 to the country houses of the wealthy, yet there is no reason why 

 it should not be clean, comfortable and a very enjoyable spot. 

 Such, I am glad to state, is the condition of many farm houses. 

 The presence of almost any insect in the home is troublesome 

 to the housewife and frequently to other members of the family, 

 and when any one speciies occurs in large numbers, comfort is 

 seriously marred. The farm house is usually distant enough 

 from others so that there is little danger of neighbors supplying 

 us with household pests, and even the greater portion of the 

 house flies probably have origin on our own farms. A serious 

 disadvantclge in city life is the closeness of houses one to another. 

 Almost all kinds of household pests have no diflSculty in passing 

 from one to another, while a nearby stable may produce enough 

 flies to supply the entire neighborhood. There is hardly any 

 excuse for such conditions existing in the country, and yet I have 

 been in places where one might almost suppose the house was 

 built to accommodate the flies. They certainly took possession 

 of everything. 



Mosquitoes. — A large proportion of farm houses are more or 

 less troubled with these tiny pests. We all know that they can 

 be excluded by the use of screens at doors and windows. Is it 

 not practicable sometimes to go behind this and prevent their 

 production? It is well known that mosquitoes breed in pools 

 and some may have seen the black or dark colored, boat-shaped 

 egg masses floating on the water. In about sixteen hours the 



