CHAPTER XIX 



ALLIED .Ml'SCID FLIES AND MISCELLANEOUS FLIES 

 FOUND IN HOUSES 



Indian Hoijse-Fly, Musoa do mystic a sub species 

 determin. i t. i w alker. 



This Indian variety of the house-fly was described by Walker 

 (1856) from the East Indies. His description is as follows : 

 "Black witli a hoary cove'ring; head with a white covering; 

 frontalia broad, black, narrower towards the feelers ; eyes bare ; 

 palpi and feelers black ; chest with four black stripes ; abdomen 

 cinereous, with a large tawny spot on each side at the base ; legs 

 black ; wings slightly grey, with a tawny tinge at the base ; 

 praebrachial vein forming a very obtuse angle at its flexure, very 

 slightly bent inward from thence to the tip ; lower cross vein 

 almost straight; alulae whitish, with pale yellow border; halteres 

 tawny." 



In appearance and size it is very similar to M. doinestica. Its 

 breeding habits are also similar. Aldridge (1904) states that at 

 certain seasons of the year it is present in enormous numbers. 

 The method of disposal of the night soil is to bury it in trenches 

 about one foot or less in depth. From one-sixth of a cubic foot of 

 soil taken from a trench at Meerut and placed in a cage, 4042 

 flies were hatched. Lieutenant Dwyer collected 500 from one 

 cage covering three square feet of a trench at Mhow. Specimens 

 in the British Museum collection were obtained from hospital 

 kitchens, and Smith found them in a ward at Benares. 



They have also been recorded from the N.W. Provinces, 

 Kangar Valley (4500 feet), Dersa, and I have received specimens 

 from Aden. 



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