552 HOWARD 



of the reared series; 17 of the captured series is congeneric 

 with 18 of the reared series; 22 and 23 of the captured series 

 are congeneric with 27 of the reared series; 25, 26 and 27 of 

 the captured series are congeneric with 28 of the reared series ; 

 33 of the captured series is congeneric with 32 and 33 of the 

 reared series, and is undoubtedl}^ an excrement breeder, and 

 the same may be said of 36 of the captured series which is con- 

 generic with 36 of the reared. 



From these data it will be noticed that the most abundant 

 species reared were Helicobia quadrtsetosa. Sepsis violacea^ 

 JVemopoda minuta, Liuiosina albipcnnis, Limosina fontinalis^ 

 SphcBrocera subsultans and Scatophaga furcata^ while the 

 most abundant forms captured on excrement were Pkortnia ter- 

 rcBuovcB and Bo7'borus cquinus. It will also be noticed that 

 among the reared forms there are ten others which are simply 

 entered as ' abundant ' and among the captured two others. With 

 these facts in mind we are prepared to examine the results of 

 the kitchen and dining room captures. 



The results so far stated have a distinct entomological in- 

 terest as regards the exact food habits of a large number of 

 species, many of the observations being novel contributions to 

 previous knowledge of these forms; but the practical bearing 

 of the work is only brought out when we consider which of 

 these forms are likely from their habits to actually convey 

 disease germs from the excrement in which they have bred, or 

 which they have frequented, to substances upon which people 

 feed. Therefore collections of the Dipterous insects occurring 

 in kitchens and pantries were made, with the assistance of cor- 

 respondents and observers in different parts of the country, all 

 through the summer of 1899 and also in the summer and 

 autumn of 1900. Such collections were made in the states of 

 Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, 

 Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, and California. 

 Nearly all of the tlies thus captured were caught upon sheets 

 of the ordinary sticky fly-paper, which while ruining them as 

 cabinet specimens, did not disfigure them beyond the point of 

 specific recognition. The others were captured in the ordinary 

 manner. 



