68 



records of Fannia liaving been reared from the larvae of a 

 lepidopterous insect (Ejjischnia canella), and of its occurrence 

 in the nest of the common Bumble Bee (Bombns). It is possible 

 that the larvae in question in this case may have been derived 

 from external sources, possibly the food. 



Beelese (A.). La distruzione della Mosca domestica. [The 

 destruction of the House-Hv.] — '" I^edia," viii, pt. 2, Feb. 

 1913, pp. 462-472, 4 figs. 



The author during- the months of July and September at S. 

 Yincenzo (Pisa; found himself under the necessity of taking 

 special measures to put down the house-fly. He had already 

 noticed, as a result of some years' experience, that in those 

 localities in which the olive trees were systematically sprayed 

 against the olive fly, the house-fly had almost totally disappeared, 

 to the great comfort of persons dwelling in the neighbourhood. 

 He was further convinced of the impracticability and inefiicacy 

 of any attack upon the larval forms of the common fly and that 

 the only eftective method of putting down the pest was to attack 

 the adult insect. Most of the flies emerge with immature eggs 

 in their ovaries and it is only several days after emergence that 

 reproduction can take place, so that if they can be killed within 

 this period their increase is seriously interfered with. Flies do 

 not stop in houses during the whole of the day, but a very large 

 proportion of them go outside and live upon plants in the 

 neighbourhood of the houses, for the most part attaching them- 

 selves to the undersides of leaves, of which the author figures 

 several showing them to be spotted all over with fly excrement. 

 If all manure and rubbish-heaps be carefully sprayed with a 

 solution of arsenic in sugar and water the double advantage is 

 ■obtained of the attraction of the flies to the spot and the certainty 

 of their being poisoned, and further, as the flies breed in such 

 heaps, the author argues that they are killed early in their 

 existence and the deposit of any eggs by them is more or less 

 completely prevented. He saj's that it is almost waste of time 

 to kill flies in the interior of houses, because their place is 

 immediately taken by others from the outside, that these 

 ■external sources are almost inexhaustible, and that the practical 

 difficulties of keejjing flies out of houses by screens and nets are 

 such that these methods are useless. 



For two years at S. Yincenzo the author has been able to rid the 

 neighbourhood of what used to be an intolerable pest by the 

 following method : — He prepared a solution of 10 parts of treacle, 

 2 parts of arsenite of potash or soda and 100 parts of water, and 

 with this solution all the plants in gardens, orchards, &c., round 

 about habitations were diligently sprayed, the idea being to 

 average two or three drops on each leaf. At the same time all 

 heaps of manure and other likely breeding or feeding places were 

 sprayed with the same mixture. The operation was performed 

 every 10 days and renewed after a fall of rain. The manure- 

 heaps and deposits of rubbish were sprayed whenever they had 

 been moved and a fresh surface exposed. He caused a number 



