February, '09] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 39 



kind. It seems as if public opinion will have to be raised to a higher 

 standard before the power that at present exists can be exercised 

 SO as to have any widespread influence. There is a tendency in that 

 direction, however. I was gratified, during the State Horticultural 

 Society meeting in Iowa a month ago, at the appearance of a paper 

 that I had not heard of until it was presented, recommending the 

 embodying into Iowa law of provisions that would permit of this very 

 thing, the author not knowing that it was already a part of our law 

 which was not enforced. 



President Forbes : Mr. Chairman, if you will permit me, in clos- 

 ing this discussion, I would like to say that I had thought of includ- 

 ing these statements among those in the address, for the reason that 

 there is just now a very decided pressure upon me, as state entomolo- 

 gist, in that part of the state devoted to commercial horticulture, 

 to do that very thing, and which, in my state, as in Iowa, I have au- 

 thority to do under the law. In fact, although it was passed as a 

 horticultural measure, our present San Jose scale law is a very gen- 

 eral law, and the attorney-general tells me that I have the power to 

 go into a man's wheat field and ascertain whether he is breeding 

 Hessian flies that are liable to escape to his neighbor's field, and, if 

 he is, I can prescribe an}^ measures I think necessary under the cir- 

 cumstances. 



I think very likely we shall find that we have more power than we 

 should want to exercise, unless it is in some such case as that I spoke 

 of in Illinois, where the great mass of the people want to raise fruit 

 and are willing to do what is necessary to that end. but where, here 

 and there, a man abandons the care of his orchard, to the great dan- 

 ger of everA' one in the vicinity. 



(President Forbes took the chair again at this point.) 



The remainder of the morning session was devoted to business 

 matters. 



President Forbes: Our next topic is "The Economic Status of 

 the House-Fly," by :\Ir. Felt. 



THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE HOUSE-FLY 

 By E. P. Felt, Albamj. X. Y. 



The house-fly is such a common insect that altogether too much has 

 been taken for granted. Up to recently it has been considered sim- 

 ply as an inevitable nuisance. Later developments have shown that 

 this insect may be an important factor in the dissemination of cer- 

 tain diseases. 



