159 



Morrill (A. W.). House-fly Baits and Poisons. — Jl. Econ. Entom., 

 Concord, vii, no. 3, June 1914, pp. 268-273. 



Experiments have been made with a view to securing definite 

 information concerning the comparative attraction for the house-fly 

 of some of the many materials used and recommended as baits or 

 poisons. Vinegar in itself is an excellent bait for a fly-trap, but the 

 addition of sugar or bread increases its attractiveness. Formahn 

 (40 per cent.) differs greatly in its attractiveness on different days, 

 but it makes an excellent fly-poison when combined with other sub- 

 stances, such as beer, milk, or bread ; commercial alcohol (95 per cent.), 

 1 part in 20 of water, appears to be equally effective. Bichromate of 

 potash gave no results. Cobalt appeared especially attractive when 

 used with bread, and in one experiment, exhibited better kilhng effects 

 than formahn. Sweet milk without the addition of other material 

 seems to have httle if any advantage over sour milk ; combined with 

 bread, sweet milk was very attractive, but not so much so as formahn 

 or alcohol mixtures used wTith bread. Beer was a very attractive 

 bait under certain conditions, fresh beer being more so than stale ; 

 it combines readily with formahn, but not with alcohol. Bread added 

 greatly to the attractiveness of hquid fly-foods and poisons, and in this 

 respect is superior to wheat bran. Over-ripe bananas were superior 

 to ordinary ones and also to fresh or decayed oranges and apples. 

 Commercial dried blood moistened with water had a greater attractive 

 value than fresh or decomposed meat or fish ; fresh fish was more 

 attractive than decomposed fish. Cane sugar and syrup had 

 relatively low attractive values when used alone. The value of sticky 

 fly-paper was very materially increased by placing small amounts of 

 attractive bait on the centre of each sheet ; a thin shce of over-ripe 

 banana is an inoffensive and effective bait for this purpose. 



Hewitt (C. G.). Further Observations on Breeding Habits and Control 

 of the House-fly, Musca domestica. — Jl. Econ. Entom., Concord, 

 vii, no. 3, June 1914, pp. 281-289. 



This is an interim report of the author's work on the breeding habits 

 of Musca domestica. Six heaps of horse-manure, each about a cubic 

 yard in volume, were enclosed in cages of galvanised poultry wire, and 

 either left for two days for the flies to oviposit and then treated with 

 an insecticide, or treated at once, when chloride of hme was used. 

 After exposure for two or three days and treatment \dth. insecticides 

 the heaps were covered with wooden cases, in which holes were pro- 

 vided for the attachment of wire balloon fly-traps, the emerging flies 

 being thus caught and counted. The number of fhes which emerged 

 from the untreated control cage was 13,332. In the heaps treated 

 the numbers were : — Zenoleum, 8,040 ; iron sulphate, 7,850 ; 

 chloride of hme (surface), 5,943 ; chloride of hme (mixed), 4,627 ; 

 and kerosene emulsion, 3,481. 



It was found that the mature larvae generally left the manure heap 

 to pupate and buried themselves in the sand at some distance from 

 the heap. Larvae were found pupating at a depth of 9 inches two feet 

 from the heap. Experiments were made to find the relation between 

 the temperature of the manure heap and the breeding of the flies, and 

 it was found that at no great depth from the surface the heat was 

 too great to allow the larvae to exist. 



