248 THE HOUSE FLY DISEASE CARRIER 



probably swallowed them with uncooked vegetable 

 food. 



THE STABLE FLY (Muscina stabulans Fall.) 



This is one of the flies which very much resemble 

 the house fly, and is frequently mistaken for it. It be- 

 longs to the same family and is of the same general 

 color. It is not so abundant in houses as some of the 

 others we have mentioned. In 1900, out of the 23,087 

 flies collected in dining-rooms and kitchens in different 

 parts of the country, thirty-seven belonged to this spe- 

 cies. It is common throughout Europe, everywhere in 

 the United States, and extends south to Argentina. 

 In England it is said to be found in and near houses. 

 Hewitt has found it occurring in early summer before 

 the house fly has appeared in great numbers. It is 

 somewhat larger than the true house fly, and is well 

 shown in the accompanying figure, which also shows 

 some of the structural details of both the adult and the 

 larva. The adult may be at once distinguished from 

 the house fly by the gradual curve of the vein reaching 

 the tip of the wing, instead of the abrupt angle in the 

 same vein in the house fly. 



The larvae of the stable fly live upon decaying sub- 

 stances, fungi, etc., but it is recorded in Europe as 

 feeding upon caterpillars and larval bees. Schiner 

 states that it breeds in cow dung, and it has also been 

 found in dead animals. In this country it feeds upon 

 the dead chrysalids of insects, and has been reared from 

 dying squash plants. The fly has also been reared from 



