April, 1912.] 



333 



Plant Sanitation. 



mixture were placed in the passage way 

 between the stalls. This passage way is 

 about six feet wide and thirty feet long. 

 The poison mixture was exposed at 12 

 o'clock noon, and left until 8 o'clock the 

 next morning. The dead flies when swept 

 up measured three quarts, and certainly 

 one-half as many died in the stalls on 

 each side. I estimated that we killed 

 between forty and fifty thousand flies in 

 twenty hours by this experiment." 



" At the writer's suggestion many 

 housekeepers have used the formalin as 

 recommended above, and several have 

 reported the killing of flies by the pint 

 and quart, A gentleman in charge of a 

 farm, where a large horse barn is main- 

 tained, tells me that he poisoned a gallon 

 of flies the first day he tried the mixture. 

 This statement was vouched for by other 

 witnesses in whom I have perfect confi- 

 dence." 



" A good place to expose the formalin 

 mixture is on the front and back porches, 

 where flies are frequently numerous, and 

 waiting to enter when the doors are 

 opened. I know of several people who 

 have used it successfully in this manner," 



"The use of the formalin-milk mixture 

 in dwelling houses has not proved so 

 successful, except in unscreened kitchens 

 of dining-rooms." 



"This poison was tested in the large 

 College mess-hall- where over four 

 hundred students can be seated, result- 

 ing in practically cleaning up all the flies 

 in two days. Previous to that time the 

 steward had been using tanglefoot fly 

 paper, often having as many as thirty 

 sheets exposed. Fully that number were 

 present when the formalin was used, but 

 in spite of them the flies were numerous." 



I have satisfied myself, by actual ex- 

 periment, that our Ceylon fly is not proof 

 against this mixture. Sweetened con- 

 densed milk was employed in place of 

 fresh milk, and proved to be very 

 attractive. Blies that fed upon this 

 mixture died very quickly— certainly 

 within two minutes. 



Though so rapidly fatal to house flies, 

 formalin mixed with syrup was eaten by 

 various kinds of ants with impunity. 



Ants that had partaken freely of poi- 

 soned syrup were still alive and appar- 

 ently in good health after twenty-four 

 hours. 



In recommending this treatment I wish 

 it to be clearly understood that it should 

 only be accessory to measures of strict 

 cleanliness. Flies breed in filth, and 

 where filth is allowed to remain fresh 

 broods of flies will constantly replace 

 the victims of the poison. The formalin 

 treatment is merely a palliative to des- 

 troy existing flies in a building. 



SECOND INTERNATIONAL CON- 

 GRESS OF ENTOMOLOGY. 

 Oxford, 1912 (5th- 10th August). 



The First International Congrees of 

 Entomology, held in Brussels cn August 

 lst-6th, 1910, was an unqualified success. 

 It was well supported by Entomologists 

 of all countries, both theoretical and 

 practical, and also by many Governments 

 and institutions, which are at last ' 

 beginning to realise the profound im- 

 portance of this science in Medicine and 

 in Agriculture. 



The Membership was nearly 400, and 

 upwards of 300 actually attended the 

 proceedings. 



The results of the deliberations are 

 being published in two volumes (im- 

 perial octavo), the first being devoted 

 to the proceedings and discussions, the 

 second to the numerous valuable me- 

 moirs contributed by many authorities 

 upon a great vaiiety of subjects, in- 

 cluding papers devoted to pure and to 

 economic Entomology. The volume of 

 Memoirs (515 pages, 27 plates) is now 

 published and issued to Members. The 

 volume of Proceedings will follow 

 shortly. 



It was decided at the First Congress 

 that the Second Congress should be held 

 in 1912, and the following meetings 

 every three years from that date, so 

 that in future the International Con- 

 gress of Entomology will be held one 

 year before the International Congress 

 of Zoology, 



