February, '09J JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 45 



foreement of the anti-spittings ordinances on the street cars and in 

 various other public places might come in for some attention, and 

 if flies do spread disease from sputum, as they probably do, it is sin- 

 gular that in localities where spitting on the sidewalk is more prev- 

 alent we do not find more of those diseases than in others where the 

 laws are more strictly enforced. 



Mr. Hunter: ]\Ir. President, I don't think that Dr. Felt exag- 

 gerated the importance of this subject at all. On the contrary. I 

 am inclined to think that he went to the other extreme in minimiz- 

 ing the importance of the house-fly in the spread of diseases. Re- 

 cently, some work was done in the- Hawaiian Islands by Dr. Cobb, 

 not with the house-fly, but with an insect instrumental in the dis- 

 semination of a disease of the sugar cane. The results of his 

 work throw a great deal of light upon general matters connected 

 with the transmission of diseases by flies. He found that the ex- 

 creta of a Sarcophagid fly served as a perfect cultural media 

 for the germs passing through the alimentary canal. Each defeca- 

 tion therefore provides a medium that augments greatly the chances 

 of the spores taking hold of the plant. This refers to an entirely 

 different fly, but isn't it possible that in the case of the house-fly 

 something very similar takes place? That opens up an entirely 

 new category of conditions under which the house-fly may trans- 

 mit diseases. Dr. Felt, I think, did not mention one case of the trans- 

 mission of disease by flies, brought to the surface recently by phy- 

 sicians connected with the British Army Corps in India. In India, 

 in Ceylon, and the Philippine Islands, they have a troublesome dis- 

 ease called yaws. Dr. Robertson, of the British service, having charge 

 of a camp in the regions infected with yaws, tried the experiment of 

 carrying the infection by meats and flies. The patients were in- 

 structed from time to time to anoint their sores with a certain prep- 

 aration, but during the course of this experiment to do nothing of 

 the kind, but to collect all the house-flies they could, and they collected 

 200 specimens of the house-fly, which were put into distilled water 

 and shaken up. A dozen flies were taken from the water in the 

 flask, and they showed the specific organism, the cause of the dis- 

 ease. The connection between house-flies and tuljerculosis is given 

 entirely too little attention. A great deal has been written and said 

 respecting flies and typhoid fever, but it occurs to me that when the 

 matter is gone into more thoroughly, we shall. find flies much more 

 important and dangerous in the transmission of tuberculosis. 



President Forbes : If there is nothing further on this subject, 

 we will take next the paper on ''Notes on Cranberry Pests," by 

 H. J. Franklin, which will be read by Mr. H. T. Fernald. 



