X, B, 5 Roberg: Bacterial Infections 311 
of disease, and whether it can be considered as important as the 
mere commonly noted Musca domestica, Stomoxys calcitrans, 
Lucilia, Sarcophaga, Calliphora, and other of the larger species 
which have received so much attention in the literature. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY PHORIDA 
The family Phoridz contains, according to Kertész,(34) 27 
genera and 221 species. Malloch,(35) in reviewing the Phoride 
in the United States National Museum, enumerates 79 species 
under the genus Aphiochexta. 
According to Malloch’s description the insects of this family 
are for the most part very small, black or yellow flies, which on 
account of their minuteness are easily overlooked. Of the life 
history of this group there is very little known. Strange to say 
it is over a century since the first species was described, and even 
now but little is known of its habits. Complete life history- 
records of this family are rare, and the list of those so recorded 
is very meager. 
Those species that have been reared have, for the most part, 
been bred upon fungi and dead or decaying vegetable or animal 
matter. Some have been reared from snails, and a few from the 
bodies of bees, ants, or beetles. Whether or not some of these 
are true parasites is a matter of conjecture. They may be found 
throughout the year, especially within houses. 
Malloch lists 57 species of the Phoridz whose habits are par- 
tially known. As some of these species named may be instru- 
mental in the carriage of disease, because of their breeding 
places, and as they are few in number, the names are here given. 
Recovered from exhumed human bodies are: Trupheoneura 
opaca Meigen and Conicera atra Meigen. From a buried human 
corpse, Phora aterrima Fabricius. The following 5 species 
were recovered from carrion: Truwpheoneura trinervis Becker, 
T. perennis Meigen, Dohrniphora abdominalis Fallen, Chetoneu- 
rophora calignosa Meigen, and C. ora curvinervis Becker. 
The remainder of the 57 species occur on dead snails, bees, 
caterpillars, and other insects, rotting vegetable matter, leaves, 
or plants, or as commensals with other insects. 
Brues, (86) who revised and monographed the North American 
Phoridz, gives the following description of the family and of the 
genus Aphiocheta. 
Although a considerable number of Phoridz have been de- 
scribed during the past few years, our knowledge concerning the 
extent of the family is still very meager. The forms occurring in 
