44 JOURNAL OP ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 2 



sumably receiving accessions and leaving individuals at almost e very- 

 stopping place, even though the route traversed may occupy an 

 entire day. Furthermore, troUey ears and, to a more limited extent, 

 express cars carrying sacked meat or other supplies attractive to flies, 

 may become important factors in the conveyance of disease-bearing 

 flies. It is only necessary for these carriers to load where conditions 

 are favorable for the infection of flies and we may have a mysterious 

 outbreak at some distance from the source of trouble. 



It is admitted that flies are comparatively harmless if they have no 

 chance of becoming infected. The difficulty is to distinguish be- 

 tween the harmless individual and the one fairly reeking with ty- 

 phoid germs or some other undesirable infection. Dr. Howard's 

 experiments have shown the practicability of reducing largely the 

 numbers of this ubiquitous pest, while medical science is in position 

 to instruct respecting the care of all infectious material. Coopera- 

 tion on the part of both with general support from laymen through- 

 out the country should result in a material betterment of conditions. 



President Forbes : Any discussion of this paper ? 



Mr. Washburn: In connection with Dr. Felt's paper, I should 

 like to ask if any one has definite information on this point. Several 

 years ago, after the Spanish War, the statement was made, I think 

 in a meeting of this Association, that we lost by Spanish bullets only 

 250 men, whereas by the agency of the house-fly we lost 5,000. Now, 

 I don't think Dr. Skinner would like to be quoted here on that sub- 

 ject, but I should like to ask whether that is an exact statement or 

 only a Inroad estimate. 



]\Ir. Britton : Mr. Chairman, I might say that one of our young 

 members was a soldier in camp at Chickamauga, and that he worked 

 for me two or three years. He tells me that the sinks there were 

 wholly unprotected and that a large proportion of the soldiers con- 

 tracted typhoid fever, and that no precautions were taken to protect 

 them from the flies, which fairly swarmed over the excrement and later 

 over the food in the mess tents, until some of the authorities from 

 Washington went down there. After that, it was changed, of course. 

 But that seems like an unnecessary neglect on the part of the offi- 

 cials in charge of the camp. The men were there, and they had 

 nothing to do except to keep the camp as clean as possible, and it 

 seems almost like criminal negligence to have allowed such a condi- 

 tion to exist. 



Mr. Washburn: It seems to me, in this connection, that the en- 



