178 THE HOUSE FLY— DISEASE CARRIER 



Fly Traps and Fly Poisons 



In the effort to destroy the flies which have gained 

 access to houses many devices have been invented, and 

 many of them have been patented. Nearly all of the 

 traps which are on the market are reasonably effective, 

 and it will be unfair to mention any one or two or three 

 where so many are good. They are all cheap and it 

 is a simple matter for one to test them one after an- 

 other until the most satisfactory one is found. Very 

 effective traps are made of sticky fly paper — flat sheets 

 to be laid on tables, bookcases, or in other places. 



A recent idea, gained from the observation that flies 

 in rooms where there is no food seem frequently to 

 rest by preference upon vertically hanging cords of 

 window curtains, on the supports of chandeliers, and 

 objects of that general character, has resulted in several 

 arrangements by which strips of sticky fly paper are 

 suspended in this way, and this has given in many 

 cases satisfactory results. One of the writer^s friends, 

 in experimenting with one of these devices, examined 

 the room carefully and noted eleven flies. After the 

 apparatus was hung he found rather to his surprise 

 that he had caught thirteen flies! He became rather 

 enthusiastic over the merits of the device. These 

 sticky fly papers are not poisoned, and depend for their 

 efficacy upon the catching of the flies. 



Poisoned fly papers were at one time very much in 

 use and are still in some localities. The old dispensa- 

 tories give an account of a harmless fly poison prepared 



