June, '14] HOUSE-FLY CONTROL WORK 281 



President P. J. Parrott: The next paper will be presented by 

 Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, entitled "Further Observations on the Breed- 

 ing Habits of the House-fly and its Control. " 



FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE BREEDING HABITS AND 

 CONTROL OF THE HOUSE-FLY, MUSCA DOMESTICA 



By C. Gordon Hewitt. D. Sc, F. R. S. C. Dominion Entomologist, Ottawa 



The following account of certain investigations carried on during 

 the past summer (1913) is of a preliminary character. It was con- 

 sidered desirable to communicate to the Association an interim report 

 of this nature, primarily with a view to drawing the attention of other 

 workers to the need of experimental work along similar lines. In so 

 important a public problem as the control of house-flies, it is most 

 desirable that the assistance of as many workers as possible should be 

 enlisted, especially in a country containing so varied climatic, econ- 

 nomic and other conditions. 



Probably no entomological subject is now more popularly discussed 

 than house-fly control, and as one who has, during the past eight years, 

 devoted more attention to this subject than to any other entomological 

 problem, I am bound to confess that in the matter of control meas- 

 ures there is still much to learn and we are far from having solved the 

 basic problem of control, namely, the prevention of breeding. I am 

 not referring particularly to the question of the construction of fly- 

 proof receptacles for stable-refuse and other fly breeding substances, 

 but to the use of.insecticidal substances under conditions which pro- 

 hibit the taking of other precautions and render desirable the adoption 

 of additional remedial measures. 



It is in regard to control measures under rural conditions that we 

 are most deficient in knowledge. For many reasons the prevention of 

 breeding under urban conditions is, I believe, more subject to control. 

 Civic authorities can insist on stables being constructed on certain 

 approved lines, on the segregation of stables, a most important policy, 

 on stable-refuse and garbage being stored according to prescribed 

 methods, on the periodic removal of these breeding substances and so 

 forth. All of which tend to reduce the problem to simple terms, 

 though I should be the last to deny the inherent difficulties. Under 

 rural conditions, however, the problem is different and it should be 

 hardly necessary to indicate the importance of house-fly control in 

 the country. One aspect alone, namely the possibility of milk con- 

 tamination, and our milk supplies will always originate in the country, 

 is sufficiently serious to warrant the greater attention to fly control 



