1912] Paine — The House Fly in lis Relation to City Garbage 157 



the so-called stable fly. To quote further, '' Musca domestica was 

 also reared, as was also another species known as Phormia regina, 

 but it seems from these observations, although they were limited 

 to a single locality in Central Ohio, that the recently acquired 

 opinion to the effect that the typhoid fly breeds abundantly in 

 vegetable refuse when it has reached the proper fermenting stage 

 is due many times to the mistake of considering the stable fly 

 and its larvae as those of 31. domestica.'" As will be seen by ref- 

 erence to the table given below, but a single occurrence of Mus- 

 cina stabidans was recorded in the present experiments. 



Newstead carefully investigated the breeding places of these 

 flies in the city of Liverpool and his results, as given by Howard, 

 tend to confirm those of the present writer. He found that the 

 housefly bred in ash pits containing vegetable refuse in the proper 

 state of fermentation, often to the same extent as in stable manure. 



Professor R. W. Doane^ states that, "Decaying vegetables or 

 fruit, fermenting kitchen refuse and other materials sometimes 

 also serve as breeding places." Smith', in his observations on the 

 breeding of flies in human excrement in India, has discovered 

 many of these insects issuing from this source, as has previously 

 been noted by others. 



The conditions in the section visited in the present instance, one 

 of Boston's tenement districts, would appear to one unaccustomed 

 to such sights, quite alarming. Various species of Muscids, in- 

 cluding a large percentage of houseflies, we found swarming about 

 the garbage, depositing eggs and feeding upon it and upon other 

 refuse thrown into the alleys. These were the flies that were 

 supplying the nearby restaurants in such numbers. 



The larvae were collected from the contents of various pails as 

 they were emptied into the carrier's wagon. As a rule they were 

 found in quantities and often were so abundant that the interior 

 of the receptacle appeared as a wriggling mass. In the laboratory 

 the maggots were placed in covered boxes containing a little earth 

 in which they could pupate, and were fed upon stale, water-soaked 

 bread. In a few lots kept in milk bottles the mature larvae crawled 



iDoane, R. W. Insects and Disease. American Nature Ser., Group IV, Henry Holt & Co. 

 New York (1910) p. 63. 



2 Smith, F. A Further Note on the Ways of Common Flies in India. Jour. Royal Army 

 Medical Corps. (July, 1908) 



