^38 THE HOUSE FLY— DISEASE CARRIER 



ible numbers under buildings, between the earth and 

 the floor. 



Dr. J. A. Lintner, in his Ninth Report of the State 

 Entomologist of New York (Albany, 1893), gave a 

 number of instances of like occurrences of this fly in 

 houses, both in spring and in winter, in various parts of 

 New York State. A good description was given by a 

 correspondent of the Washington Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy, living in Lasalle County, Illinois. The corre- 

 spondent stated that the cluster fly had been a pest in 

 her household for fifteen years. She wrote, ''They 

 seem to prefer to occupy the rooms on the north side 

 of the house and those that are used but little. They 

 gather in large bunches in the corners and along the 

 edge of the ceiling of the room. They cannot be driven 

 out as other flies, but must be killed outright to get 

 rid of them, and when you mash them the odor is like 

 that of honey. We have tried nearly everything that 

 we heard of that was recommended to us, with no ef- 

 fect. It seems impossible to get rid of them or to keep 

 them out of the house, for they crawl in through the 

 smallest places in the windows." 



Other correspondents have reported the odor of the 

 crushed bodies as being very disagreeable. 



Incredible as it must seem, practically nothing is 

 known about the early stages of this abundant and trou- 

 blesome fly. European writers either admit that they 

 know nothing about it or give rather vague statements. 

 Robineau Desvoidy, speaking of the genus Pollenia as 

 a whole, states that their eggs are laid in decomposing 



