149 



it extends as far north as Minnesota. The female fleas remain 

 attached after they have found a suitable host, the eggs being dropped 

 as fast as they are produced. The young hatch in from 3| to 4 days. 

 The larvae live on dried blood particles in the dust and the excreta 

 of the parents. The length of the larval period varies from 6 to 10 

 days. A dehcate cocoon of the finest silk is spun and the larva then 

 rests, doubled up inside the cocoon, for from 3 to 4 days, after which 

 it enters the pupal stage, lasting from 6 to 9 days. The entire life-cycle 

 takes from 3 to 4 weeks. The author recently discovered that the small 

 brown ants {Pheidole megacepJiaJa) are important enemies of these 

 fleas and carry off both the eggs and the larvae. These ants also 

 destroy house-fly larvae, as well as many other destructive pests. 

 The water treatment, based on the idea that the larvae cannot exist 

 under moist conditions and used against the larvae of ordinary fleas, 

 has proved most effective against E. gallinacea. Within a week of 

 using a hose for washing out a fowl-house every morning, the pest 

 decreased noticeably, and after two weeks, it practically disappeared. 

 Investigation showed that most of the complaints of infestation come 

 from dry districts, wet ones not being troubled. A 5 per cent, solution 

 of creolin may be used for spraying the houses, bedding, etc., of 

 domestic animals, such as dogs and cats. This treatment may also 

 be useful in dwellings where a free use of water is not practicable. 

 For the treatment of the animals themselves, weaker solutions should 

 be used, as follows :• — For dogs, 3 per cent.' — about 5 teaspoonsful 

 to a quart of water. Cats, fowls, etc., 2 per cent.- — about 3 tea- 

 spoonsful to a quart of water. 



Skinner (H.). How Does the House-fly Pass the Winter? (Dipt.) — 

 Entom. News, Philudelphia, xxvi, no. 6, June 1915, pp. 263-264. 



The report by Copeman and Austen [see this Revieiv, Ser. iii, p. 88] 

 is summarised and further evidence is adduced that Musca domestica 

 hibernates in the pupal stage, freshly emerged flies having been taken 

 in the Entomological Department of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia on 15th, 17th and 23rd February 1915. No hibernated 

 specimens were seen and a freshly emerged male was taken, and it is 

 regarded as a fact that house-flies of both sexes emerge from pupae 

 in the late winter or early spring and that these flies are capable of 

 producing the large summer broods. 



Mote (D. C). Some Important Arimal Parasites affecting Ohio Live- 

 stock.— O^io Agric. Exp. Sta., Wooster. Bull. no. 280. December 

 1914, pp. 23-52, 17 figs. [Received 22nd June 1915.] 



The following is a preliminary hst of insect parasites of Hve-stock 

 in Ohio :• — Gastrophikts intestinalis (bot fly) and TricJwdectes parum- 

 pilosus, attacking horses ; Hypodenna lineatum (warble fly), TricJwdectes 

 scalaris and Haematopinus evnjstermis, on cattle ; Oestrus ovis (nostril 

 fly) and Melophagus ovinus (sheep tick), on sheep ; Haematopinus suis 

 on pigs ; Menopon biseriatum on fowls. Four species of bot fly are 

 found in the United States, viz., Gastrophilus intestinalis, G. haemor- 

 rhoidalis, G. nasalis and G. peco-rnm ; G. intestinalis is the commonest 

 and in Ohio has been found in five widely separated counties. The 



