362 journal of economic entomology [vol. 9 



References 



(1) Herms, W. B. 1911. The House-Fly in Relation to Public Health. Univ. Cal. 



Col. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 215, p. 513-548. 



Hewitt, C. G. 1912. House-flies and How They Spread Disease. G. P. Put- 

 nam and Sons. Pp. 25. New York. 



Levy, E. C. and Tuck, W. T. 1913. The Maggot Trap— a New Weapon in Our 

 Warfare Against the Typhoid Fly. Am. Jour. Pub. Health, vol. 3, No. 7, 

 No. 7, pp. 657-660. 



SraTH, R. I. 1912. The House-Fly {Musca domesiica). No. Car. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Col. Agr. and Mech. Arts., Ann. Rept. 34, pp. 62-69. 



(2) Hewitt, C. G. 1914. The House-Fly. G. P. Putnam and Sons. Pp. 90, New 



York. 



(3) Paine, J. H. 1912. The Hou.se-fiy in Relation to City Garbage. Psyche, vol. 19, 



pp. 15&-159. 



(4) Howard, L. O. 1911. House-Fhes. Farmers Bull. No. 4.59, U. S. Dept. Agr., 



16 pp., Washington. 



(5) RouBAUD, M. E. 1915. Production et Auto-destruction par le Fumier de Cheval 



des Mouches domestique. Comptes Rendus, 161, pp. 325-327. 



PROFESSOR GOSSARD'S THEORY ON FIREBLIGHT 

 TRANSMISSION 



By E, F. Phillips, Bureau of Entomology, U. <S. Dept. of Agriculture 



In the February number of the Journal, there appears a paper^ 

 which Professor Gossard read at the Columbus meeting. Without 

 presuming to know anything about firebhght or of the distribution 

 of the causal organisms, it seems justifiable to examine the validity 

 of his conclusions. If the hive does serve as a distributing center of 

 the organisms, the fact will be accepted when adequate proof is pre- 

 sented, but in the meantime an attempt to point out the fallacies in 

 the theory will only help to arrive at the truth. Although the author 

 says "it must be remembered that this surmise, as yet, rests upon in- 

 ference only," attention should be called to the total lack of experi- 

 mental data to support the surmise. 



The proof presented by Professor Gossard is as follows : 



1. Bacillus amylovorus was not found in old honey from three hives 

 in the spring. It is not shown that blight is carried over in that way. 



2. Bacillus amyloiwus was not found in fresh apple honej^ in five 

 hives, from one of which the bees certainly worked on blighted blos- 

 soms. 



3. Bacillus amylovorus lived in artificially inoculated sterilized 

 honey up to 43 hours and 25 minutes and, when cultures from these 

 were injected into apple twigs, blight usually resulted in 100 per cent 



1 Gossard, H. A., 1916. Is the hive a center for distributing fireblight? Is 

 Aphid honeydew a medium for spreading blight? Jr. Econ. Ent. IX, 1, pp. 59-62. 



