134 



hours at a cost of about 2s. lOd. per 1,000. This treatment is therefore 

 remunerative. In the stalls a number of experiments were made with 

 insecticide- washes with the object of kilHng the larvae. Birch-tar oil, 

 costing about 4|d. per lb. gave excellent results. 



PouiLLAUDE (I.). Les Mouches communes. [Common Flies,]— 

 Insecta, Rennes\ iii, nos. 34-36, Oct.-Dec. 1913, pp. 410-12, 

 444-448, 479-482 ; iv, nos. 37-41, Jan.-May 1914, pp. 27-34, 73- 

 75, 99-108, 14G-148, 173-180, 25 figs. 



The author in a series of papers gives an account of the commoner 

 species of flies frequenting buildings, including Scenojnm^s fenestralis, 

 and Phora rufipes, which are recorded as useful, since the larvae are 

 parasitic on certain caterpillars, Homalomyia canicular is, H. scalaris, 

 Stomoxys calcitrans, Musca domestica, M. corvina, PoUenia rudis, 

 Calliphora erythrocephala, C. vomitoria, Lucilia caesar, Sarcophaga car- 

 naria, Mt(scina stabulans, the larvae of which attack those of M. 

 domestica, Scatophaga stercoraria, Heteromyza filiformis, Themira putris, 

 Nemopoda cylindrica and Piophilacasei. The genus Drosophila includes 

 about 12 species in France, the larvae of which feed on vegetable 

 matter. D. funebris occurs in houses, showing a preference for egg- 

 laying on fermenting acid matter, bad fruit, etc. To this group also 

 belongs Chiromyia flava. Psychoda aUernafa and P. phalaenoides are 

 frequently found during fine weather on damp walls and on windows of 

 houses. Colour seems to play little part in affecting the movements of 

 flies, though many more larvae were found on a rubbish heap in full light 

 than on one in the dark. The movements of flies are probably controlled 

 by a form of phototropism. To this phenomenon may be due the 

 influence of the threads of a meshwork, as demonstrated by Spence 

 about 1834 at Florence. Hymenopterous parasites of flies include : 

 Figites scutellaris, Rossi, F. consobrinus, Spalangia nigra, Latreille, 

 Stenomalus mnscarum, L., BothriotJiorax clavicornis, Dalm., Zygosis 

 heteropterus, Hartig, and Alysia manducator, Panz. In 1913, Port- 

 chinsky reported the larvae of Stomoxys calcitrans and Hydrotaea 

 dentipes as feeding on the larvae of the house-fly [see this Revieiv, 

 Ser. B, i, pp. 146 and 149]. In 1913, Hesse was successful in 

 cultivating a fungus, Empusa muscae, and killed w^ith it Stomoxys 

 calcitrans, Mnsca domestica and Homalomyia canicuhris [see 

 this Revieiv, Ser. B, i, p. 11]. Water 50 parts, milk 25, sugar 

 10 and commercial 30 per cent, formol 15 parts, spread in a thin 

 layer on plates, boards, etc. is recommended for killing the adult flies. 

 Various other methods of dealing with this problem are discussed, 

 including the addition of chloride of lime to stable manure, the trap- 

 system suggested by Barlow [see this Review, Ser. B, i, p. 67], and the 

 method of dealing with the adult fly employed by Berlese [see this 

 Review, Ser. B, i, p. 68]. No method can be efficacious in any single 

 village or town without general co-operation, and the best way to 

 render such measures popular is to interest the public and to avoid 

 vexatious procedure by simplifying the treatment. The text of a 

 circular issued in this connection by the Entomological Station at 

 Rennes is given, A bibliography of 50 works, issued up to 1913, 

 completes the paper. 



