20 INSECTS AFFECTING HEALTH OF MAN OR ANIMALS. 
troops may come in contact with an infested community. If the fleas 
are found on the ground, their breeding places may be sprayed with 
kerosene or crude petroleum. Dressing the ground under houses with 
a mixture of 20 pounds of air-slaked lime, 3 pounds of sulphur, and 
1 pound of pyrethrum, or ‘‘buhach,”’ has proven very effective 
with the dog flea! In buildings, naphthalene crystals or insect pow- 
der may be sprinkled on the floors. Fumigation with sulphur fumes 
is also effective in buildings. Salt water or aqua ammonia will give 
relief from the bites. 
THE CHIGOE. 
The chigoe (Dermatophilus penetrans Guérin) is a kind of flea and 
should not be confused with the “‘chigger”’ or“‘red bug.’’ The female 
penetrates under the skin, usually under the toe nails or in the sole 
of the foot, and soon becomes very greatly enlarged. Treatment 
consists in the careful removal of the insect, which should be done 
as soon as it is detected. Delay is lhkely to cause infection. The 
wound should be treated with weak carbolic acid or tincture of 
iodine, or dusted thoroughly with an antiseptic powder. 
TICKS. 
A satisfactory treatment of domestic animals infested with ticks 
is to dip them in arsenical fluids. 
The ticks may be best removed from the human body by applying 
gasoline, petroleum, orvaseline. Thespinose ear tick? may beremoved 
from the ear by pouring bland oil into the ear or by inserting a small 
wad of cotton soaked with chloroform. Tick bites may be treated by 
bathing in very hot water, followed by an application of a strong 
solution of bicarbonate of soda, which is allowed to dry upon the skin. 
For severe itching it is sometimes advisable to smear the bites with 
vaseline which is slightly impregnated with camphor or menthol. 
THE STABLE FLY.3 
The biting stable fly very closely resembles the house fly, but 
differs from it in its ability to draw blood. It generally breeds in 
moist straw and hay, and is very annoying to mules, horses, and 
cattle, and often to man. 
This fly is more often a carrier of animal diseases than of human 
diseases. Aside from the danger of transmitting disease the fly is 
very troublesome because of its painful bite. Horses and mules often 
become frantic in their efforts to escape the flies. 
Stacked straw which has been wet and partly rotted and hence is no 
longer available for stock food is a very favorable place for the fly © 
to breed. Such straw should be dried as soon as possible by scatter- 
ing and either burned or plowed under. The stable fly does not 
often develop in manure, and where it does it will be controlled by — 
measures against the house fly. q 
1 Ctenocephalus canis Curtis, 2 Ornithodoros megnini Duges. 3 Stomozys calcitrans L. 
