156 Psyche. [August 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



The House Fly — Disease Carrier; an account of its dangerous activities and of 

 the means of destroying it. By L. O. Howard, pp. xix-312; figs. 40. Fred- 

 erick A. Stokes Co., New York. $1.50. 



The dangerous character of the house fly as an agent in the spread of disease 

 has only very recently become a matter of common knowledge, but the great 

 activity during the past two or three seasons by health authorities and civic asso- 

 ciations has instilled a wholesome dread of this insect in the minds of the public 

 at large. 



Many scattered, incomplete, and sometimes grossly overstated accounts of the 

 house fly have appeared in the public press, or in pamphlet form to enjoy a wide 

 distribution. These have accomplished great good, but those desirous of presenting 

 the matter in accurate form have been hampered by the lack of any complete 

 treatise in popular style, until the appearance of Doctor Howard's book. 



Although considering the matter from many sides, the book is eminently economic 

 in nature, with chapters on Zoological Position, Life History and Habits; the Natural 

 Enemies of the Typhoid Fly; the Carriage of Disease by Flies, Remedies and 

 Preventive Measures, Other Flies Frequenting Houses, as wefl as a short biblio- 

 graphical list and several appendices giving lists of flies frequenting human dejecta, 

 those found in kitchens, and those reared from cow manure, together with a copy 

 of the laws of the District of Columbia relating to the fly nuisance, and a reprint 

 of Stiles' "Directions for Building a Sanitary Privy." 



Every entomologist will wish to see the book widely distributed among those 

 indifferent to the dangers attending the presence of house flies, and persons desiring 

 to know the present actual economic status of these insects, can do no better than 

 to peruse its pages. 



The volume is well printed; M-ith excellent figures, most of them gathered from 

 published sources, including several of Cobb's very fine photographic enlargements 

 of the entire fly and the head. While its author says that the book "is not intended 

 to be a scientific monograph; it is simply an attempt to tell in an understandable 

 way what is known about the subjects in the title," the material is so well select- 

 ed that few can claim familiarity with all the matter that has been included. 



C. T. Brues. 



