REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST IQoS 2 



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various species, although annoying ami under certain conth- 

 tions dangerous, sink into insignificance compared with the common 

 house fly. 



Habits. The house fly subsists entirely upon thiids taken up by 

 means of the fleshy tongue. It apparently feeds with equal gusto 

 upon fresh manure, decaying vegetable matter or the daintiest 

 culinary preparations. This catholicity of taste frequently results 

 in flies feeding greedily upon exposed discharges, in open vessels 

 or poorly constructed privies, from patients suffering from 

 typhoid fever or other grave intestinal diseases. The hairy legs 

 are thus fouled with thousands of deadly bacilli and countless 

 numbers of germs are swallowed. Shortly thereafter the same 

 flies may appear in the house and incidentally contaminate the food, 

 to the great peril of the consumer, with the germs adhering to the 

 limbs and those deposited with undiminished virulence in the 

 familiar fly specks. This, while disgusting and abhorrent to every 

 sense of decency, occurs repeatedly in nature and is apparently 

 ignored by the masses, despite the deadly peril incurred. 



There is abundant evidence to show that this insect breeds by 

 preference in horse manure, though it also occurs to a limited 

 extent in cow manure and in miscellaneous collections of filth and 

 specially decaying vegetable matter. The parent insects deposit 

 their eggs upon manure and similar materials, the young maggots 

 hatching therefrom in less than 24 hours and, under favorable 

 conditions, completing their growth in five to seven days later. 

 The maggots then transform to the oval, brown, resting or pupal 

 .stage, remaining therein from five to seven days. The life cycle 

 is thus completed in 10 to 14 days, the shorter period being true 

 of the warmer parts of the }ear, particularly in the vicinity of 

 Washington. D. C. Une fly may deposit about 120 eggs, and as 

 there may be lo to 12 generations in one season, it is not surprising 

 that this insect should become extremely abundant by midsummer. 

 Calculations show that under favorable conditions the descendants 

 from one fly might at the end of a season reach the stupendon- 

 number of over 190 quintillion. l)r Howard's studies show that 

 as many as 1200 house flies, in various stages, might be found in 

 one pound of manure. At this rate, one good loail of manure 

 might produce two and a half million flies. Fortunately, breeding 

 is confined to the warm months, only a few flies wintering in houses 

 in a more or less dormant condition. 



