CONTROL OF THE HOUSE FLY AND RELATED FLIES 161 



dumps to see that no fly-breeding material is dumped anywhere except on 

 incinerators. 



Grease traps at kitchens of mess halls, and at garbage can washing- 

 platforms are attractive places for fly breeding and should be kept clean 

 and treated with creosote compounds. 



Excreta 



The disposal of human excreta is a great problem in all communities, 

 but becomes acute in army and construction camps and at camping 

 resorts. In temporar}?^ army camps where latrines are necessary, the 

 excreta must be disposed of daily. The excreta may be saturated with 

 oil, covered with straw and burned daily. They may be treated with 

 lime or borax or creosote, and buried, gradually filling the latrine. They 

 may be removed daily, hauled to an incinerator and burned. Private and 

 public camping grounds should be as carefully protected in this manner 

 as an army encampment. Probably much education is necessary to 

 accomplish this practice. When a sewage system is available, the diffi- 

 culties are less, but care must be exercised to maintain the sewers in good 

 repair. If a manhole does not operate properly and sewage accumulates 

 on the walls, flies will breed there. If the main leaks and washes away 

 the covering soil, flies will breed in the seepage. The writer has personal 

 knowledge of just such insanitary conditions. At some point in the 

 system, unless septic tanks are installed, the sewage will empty into a 

 stream. The stream bed must he kept free of oh st ructions, with straight 

 banks. No trees, shrubs, grass or other obstacles must interfere with 

 the steady flow of the sewage, for behind every branch, or root, or weed 

 solid excreta will accumulate and flies will breed. In case excrement 

 accumulates in spite of all vigilance, it should be oiled, burned off and 

 moved on with all expedition, immediately upon discovery. The most 

 revolting sight the writer has ever experienced was caused by the damming 

 up of a sewage-carrying stream, causing a tremendous accumulation of 

 solid excreta which was fairly alive with wriggling maggots and black 

 with swarms of flies, and this was but a scant quarter mile from a 

 a great army camp, and typhoid fever was present. Only quick meas- 

 ures averted an epidemic. 



Carcasses 



Bodies of animals ofFer great opportunities for the breeding of many 

 species of flies and especially for the spread of disease. Carcasses should 

 be removed as soon as possible after discovery. The best way to dispose 

 of them is to bum them. If they cannot be burned they should be treated 

 with quicklime and buried. On the battlefield it is often impossible to 



