ON THE HABIT'S, LIFE-CYCLE AND 
BREEDING PLACES OF THE COMMON 
HOUSE-FLY (MUSCA DOMESTICA, Linn.) 
BY 
ROBERT NEWSTEAD, A.L.S., F.E.S., &c. 
(LECTURER IX ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY \ND PARASITOLOGY) 
(Received for publication , November 27 th, 1907) 
This paper is reprinted, by kind permission of Dr. E. W. Hope, 
Medical Officer of Health, from the preliminary report issued by the 
Health Committee of the City of Liverpool, 3rd October, 1907. Some 
additional facts regarding the habits of the house-fly have been 
obtained recently, but it has been thought desirable to embody these 
in the final report, together with the results of further experiments 
with insecticides, disinfectants, and other methods of control. 
“ This investigation was conducted chiefly with the view of 
ascertaining the nature and extent of the breeding places of the 
common house-fly {Mu sea domcstica ) in the City of Liverpool; and 
also the period of the life cycle of the fly under varying atmospheric 
and other conditions; so that some practical measures might be 
devised for the destruction of this pest. 
“In addition to the common house fly, other species of flies also 
occur in dwellings and shops, and several species were bred from 
ash-pit refuse, human excreta, &c. One of these, the common blow¬ 
fly, or blue-bottle ( Calliphora erythroccphala ), may also prove to be 
a very important contributory factor in the spread of zymotic diseases, 
b ut it is intended, for the sake of clearness, to deal with these 
additional species in the Appendix to this Report. 
“ In the popular mind the term ‘ house-fly is applied to almost 
all kinds of two-winged flies which are commonly met with m the 
dwellings of man. To the zoologist, however, there is but one true 
house-fly, and this is the Mu sea domestica described by Linnaeus in 
'7 58. This fly is by far the commonest species met with, and quite 
9 ° Per cent, of the flies which infest houses in Liveprool are o 1 11s 
kind. 
