Common Insect Enemies 103 



Whether to spray or dust is up to you — both are effec- 

 tive. But the use of the powder is indicative of the fact that 

 bedbugs formerly occupied the premises, and the guest will 

 probably spend the night imagining that he is being bitten, 

 even though the bedbug population was reduced to zero long 

 ago. The spray, particularly if a good deodorized kerosene is 

 used, will leave no tell-tale deposit or odor. Of course, when 

 the spray is used it takes a few hours for the solvent to evap- 

 orate, and the bed cannot be made up until it is dry. Inci- 

 dentally, neither the powder nor the residue left after the 

 evaporation of the spray solvent will harm your skin. So 

 rest in peace — don't worry about either bedbugs or DDT 

 poisoning. 



The Ubiquitous Fly 



He drags his legs through the frosting of your freshly 

 made cake; he dunks his head in your glass of milk; and he 

 flies over to lap up that little drop of milk on the nipple of 

 the baby's bottle. But where was he an hour ago: crawling 

 around on the manure pile, exploring the privy, or floating 

 leisurely down the sewer on an unattractive piece of debris? 

 That's the housefly — Musca domestica — for you. Here, 

 there, and everywhere, but always up to no good. 



Garbage, manure, and sewage are the preferred breed- 

 ing places for flies. Here they lay their eggs, and within a 

 period of about a week the eggs hatch to maggots, the mag- 

 gots change to pupae, and the pupae develop into full- 

 fledged flies ready to start a new generation. And since flies 

 can live about a month, they can become the parents of nu- 

 merous offspring before they finally pass on. In fact, it has 

 been estimated that a single pair of flies left to enjoy life un- 



