104 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



the following flies are commonly met with, and any one 

 of them would be called a house-fly by the man in the 

 street. 



i. The Common House-fly (Musca domestica). During 

 later summer and early autumn this is the most abundant 

 fly found in rooms of city-houses. It is not nearly so 

 plentiful in country-houses, where other species often re- 

 place it. Dr. L. O. Howard of Washington made collec- 

 tions of the flies of kitchens, pantries and dining-rooms in 

 various parts of the United States. Upwards of 20,000 

 were collected on sticky fly-paper and examined. Nearly 

 99 per cent, belonged to the common house-fly. 1 No 

 census of this kind has been taken in England, but my own 

 observations lead me to believe that none of our house- 

 flies preponderate to such a degree over the rest, though 

 in restaurants and taverns, where food, shelter and warmth 

 can always be had, and where neighbouring stables furnish 

 convenient breeding-places, the common house-fly may 

 multiply prodigiously. In private houses, even in great 

 cities, but still more in country-houses, there is a 

 variety of sorts, though one or another may decidedly 

 prevail at a particular season. Six out of the eight house- 

 flies recorded as present occasionally in American houses 

 are importations from Europe, and several of them are 

 much more plentiful in our houses than Howard's census 

 shows them to be across the Atlantic. Our common 

 house-fly has now been transported to every quarter of 

 the globe. 



In September we find in our houses some very provoking 

 flies, which settle time after time on the face or wrist, and 

 press the skin with much determination, as if trying to 

 draw blood. These flies are hard to catch, being uncom- 

 monly wary, and much on the wing ; they do not often 

 settle on the window-pane, where a fly is most easily taken 

 at a disadvantage, but often rest on the floor or in a dark 

 corner. Such examples as I have captured have all 



1 Flies and Typhoid Fever, Popular Science Monthly, 1901. 



