102 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



thoroughness to protect nearby sugar beets. It seems to be more 

 desirable to recognize and destroy its favorite food plants and resort 

 to the use of poisoned bran mash as soon as the insects are detected 

 either on cultivated crops or on weeds. 



In the season of 1915 at the suggestion of Assistant Entomologist 

 J. R. Parker, of this office, a test of poisoned bran mash as a means 

 of killing these insects was made at the Huntley Substation by Mr. 

 Dan Hansen, who is in charge of the Station for the Office of Western 

 Irrigation Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Poisoned bran mash, prepared by the usual 

 formula, was scattered among the weeds near the beet field where the 

 insects were present in great abundance. The insects ate the mash 

 greedily and the next day the dead insects could be found on the 

 ground in great abundance and no living ones were seen. Mr. James 

 Scilly, formerly agriculturist of the Billings Sugar Company, reported 

 that he had placed the poisoned bran mash under burlap bags in the 

 beet fields and stated that the adult beetles were attracted by the cov- 

 ering afforded and were killed by eating the poison. 



President C. Gordon Hewitt: If there is no discussion, the next 

 paper will be given by Mr. C. H. Richardson. 



THE RESPONSE OF THE HOUSE-FLY TO CERTAIN FOODS 

 AND THEIR FERMENTATION PRODUCTS^ 



By C. H. Richardson, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, 



New York City 



Any 9conomic study of the house-fly must obviously take into con- 

 sideration the subject of food, for it is usually during its search for 

 food that this insect is most intimately associated with man. That 

 the house-fly has decided food preferences has already found expres- 

 sion in the various baits now used in fly traps'. Previous studies on 

 baits have been made largely with complex food mixtures and while they 

 form a valuable contribution, it is felt that a more intimate knowledge of 

 the attractive constituents of these preferred foods is highly desirable. 



The experiments that form the basis of this paper were therefore 

 conducted largely with solutions of known chemical compounds found 

 in certain foods or their fermentation products which are eagerly 

 sought by house-flies. They were performed at New Brunswick, N. J., 



1 Published by permission of the Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. 



