SUMMER NUMBER 15 
CONSIDER THE FLY 
The tops of the maples are red with buds; the warm forest 
glades are dotted with violets and white forget-me-notes (Hous- 
tonias); an occasional sedge, and in the more sunny spots the 
Sheep Sorrell (Oxalis), are in bloom; and in the deeper shade 
the Twin Flower. It is early spring. (January 15.) 
And as we rest here in this sunny glade in the forest Muscus 
domesticus comes to keep us company. In our towns we eall 
him the “Typhoid Fly” and hire sanitary officers to deal with 
him, to wage unceasing war against his young. In our dwell- 
ings we call him the ‘“‘House Fly.” We screen against him. We 
trap him. We poison him. We swat him. But here in the 
woods he is a harmless, sociable fellow—and so hardy !—the 
first insect to crawl out on a cold morning, a real harbinger of 
spring. He does not bite like his cousin the Stable Fly. And 
why blame him for carrying our filth about? It is we who 
furnish him with his germs. Like too many of us humans he 
has been spoiled by too much “civilization.” Clean up our 
towns and barns and he would cease to be a menace. Would he 
cease to exist? Probably not, for I read that on some barren 
South Pacific island, where the only vertebrate animal to fur- 
nish him manure is a species of rat, he is present in abundance. 
Verily he is a hardy rascal. 
THREE SCALES NEW TO FLORIDA 
Mr. Geo. Merrill has recently added to the list of the scale 
insects of Florida three species, as follows: 
Gymnaspis aechmeae Newst. was collected from Bromeliaceae 
at Little River by Mr. Jeff Chaffin. It has also been taken at 
Gotha. 
Targionia sacchari (Ckll.) was taken from sugar cane at 
Miami by Mr. E. L. Kelly. 
Lepidosaphes camelliae Hoke—Camellia Scale. On Camellia 
Japonica. From Oneco to Tallahassee, Alabama, Georgia and 
Mississippi. 
