314 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. XIV, No. 7, 
Miss Murtfeldt was unable to get the female to oviposit on 
flesh meat of any kind. In the writer’s experience, fresh beef¬ 
steak with a slightly putrid odor seemed to be the most desirable. 
Copulation was observed on the 3rd or 4th day after emergence 
of the imago and egg deposition on the third day after copulation. 
The adults lived from 4 to 10 days, the former being the length of 
life of flies without food and moisture, except at beginning; the 
latter, the length of life of flies in a small vial, containing slightly 
putrid steak and plenty of moisture. The females outlived the 
males. 
Because of its breeding habits and the ease with which it is 
kept in captivity, this species should make a suitable one for the 
experimental zoologist. A few observations and inconclusive 
experiments were made on the reaction of the fly to heat, light, 
gravity and different food substances. When a jar of flies was 
placed near the window the majority gathered on the lighter side 
After shaking or otherwise disturbing the same reaction followed. 
They also almost invariably alight with head pointing upward. 
They can be transferred from one vial to another by holding the 
bottom of the empty one towards the light. Deadened by cold, 
they can be revived by heat. 
The following is a report of an experiment to test the com¬ 
parative value of cheese, bacon, fresh beef-steak and ham as an 
attraction for the flies. The apparatus consisted of 7 vials and 
corks thru which were fitted glass tubes with lumens large enuf 
for the admission of the flies. One of the vials contained cheese; 
one fresh lean steak; one fresh fat steak; one fat bacon; one lean 
bacon, one fat ham, one lean ham. The vials were placed in holes 
in a circular piece of card-board and this card-board containing 
the vials was placed in a large jar. About 60 flies were admitted 
from the stock culture, the jar was then covered with a glass 
plate and placed so that the openings of the tubes leading into 
the vials would face the light. The flies immediately swarmed 
upon the glass cover which was facing the window. On the after¬ 
noon of the first day there were three flies in the vial containing the 
cheese, one in the vial containing the lean ham and one in the 
vial containing the fat ham. At noon on the second day there was 
one fly in the fresh lean steak vial, one in the fresh fat steak vial, 
four in the cheese vial, six in the fat ham vial and three in the lean 
ham vial. On the afternoon of the second day there were five 
in the fresh lean steak vial, two in the fresh fat steak vial, 5 in the 
cheese vial. 7 in the fat ham vial and 3 in the lean ham. The steak 
from which the fat and lean pieces in the vials was taken, was 
observed at this time to be giving off a slightly putrid odor. At 
noon on the 3rd day, there were 12 flies in the lean fresh meat 
vial, 4 in the fat fresh meat vial, S in the fat ham vial, 2 in the lean 
ham vial and 5 in the cheese vial. At noon on the 5th day the 
