INSECTS. 119 



into a tight tank and sprinkled with kerosene. 

 Chloride of lime will also kill maggots, but it is too 

 expensive to be practicable. 



Flies have several natural enemies. They are 

 subject to disease, they are picked up by birds, and, 

 in the larva forms, are eaten by beetles; but they 

 breed so fast that the effect of this destruction is 

 seldom noticed. The only true and practical 

 remedy for the nuisance they become lies in the 

 combined efforts for cleanliness of every one own- 

 ing stables, dwellings, or other buildings, in or about 

 which decaying organic matter may accumulate. 



WEEVILS IN GENERAL. 



Under the head of weevil all those insects may 

 be included that injure stored grain. There are 

 many kinds of them, so only the most general 

 description will be here given. 



Vegetables and fruits containing a large percen- 

 tage of water can be kept in store only a few 

 months. Water is very conducive to decay, but 

 the so-called grains contain such a small percen- 

 tage of water that they will keep for years in dry 

 places without change. Owing to the small 

 amount of water and the large amount of solid food 

 in grains, they have become world-wide staples of 

 consumption. Being so condensed in bulk, they 

 can be shipped very long distances with profit, and 

 people of countries not producing them are able to 

 secure supplies almost as cheaply as if they were 



