156 Psyche [October 



those from Maine, while those from Pulhiian present ahnost the 

 two extremes of elytral punctation and clearly demonstrate that 

 no line can be drawn by the sculpture. In both series specimens 

 vary from almost entirely testaceous, (having an occipital spot 

 and the suture darker, and the abdomen and metasternum black) 

 to entirely black, with the antennae, mouth parts, and tarsi piceous. 

 The California specimens all measure 5 mm. in length while the 

 Pullman specimens vary from 4 to 7 mm. 



In all the series examined the darker specimens have a closer 

 and deeper punctation but the series from Ahwahnee present such 

 an extreme that, if it were not for intermediates like those from 

 Pullman, they would appear to merit specific rank. 



1 



THE HOUSE FLY IN ITS RELATION TO CITY 



GARBAGE.! 



By John Howard Paine. 



In connection with an endeavor to introduce into the city of 

 Boston the use of paper bags in garbage pails, with the idea of 

 preventing fly maggots from remaining attached to the sides of the 

 pails after collection of the contents, the question arose, "Does the 

 housefly breed extensively in garbage?" To obtain data upon 

 this subject, experiments were undertaken to breed out flies from 

 miscellaneous collections of maggots occurring in city garbage. 



Considerable attention has been given to the breeding places 

 of the house fly. A general idea seems to prevail that tliis species 

 seldom develops in garbage. Howard^ quotes Professor J. S. 

 Hine, of Ohio State University, .as being of the opinion that 

 "while house flies visit garbage in numbers, they appear in most 

 cases to be after food only, as only a few specimens of this species 

 were reared from such material during the season when he was at 

 work." Howard then goes on to say that Professor Hine found 

 that the fly which commonly bred in fermenting vegetable refuse 

 from the kitchen was not the typhoid fly, but Muscina stahulans, 



1 Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Institution, Harvard 

 University, No. 58. 



2 Howard, L. O. The House Fly— Disease Carrier. F. A. Stokes Co., New York (1911) 

 p. 9. 



