The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-27
THE MORNING NEWS: TUESDAY JUNE p. 1899
FACTS ABOUT FLIES.
How They Multiply and Spread In
fictitious Diseases.

FROM the chicago Record
Washington. D. c.. June l6.-"House
flies said DR.. L. o. Howard, the famous
entomologist of the agricultural depart
ment come mostly from the stables and
the dirt left in the streets by horses. II
we could do away with horses we would
not have so many flies. A single stable
in which horse is Kept will IN an ex-
tended neighborhood with flies. People
living in agricultural communities viii
probably never get rid of the pest. but In
cities, with better modes of disposing or
garbage, and with the lessening of the
number of horses in stables consequent
upon the increased use OF electric street
railways, bicycles and horseless carriages.
the time may come when window screens
may be discarded"
rs there any way TO do away with
flies?''
we have tried everything we can think
OF. careful screening Of windows and
doors, with the supplementary use of
sticky fly papers. is the best preventive
measure we know of, but there Is no hope
of relief except by doing away with the
breeding places, and those are chiefly the
manure piles in stables. We have tried
slack lime land plaster, chloride of lime,
kerosene ana all sorts of things and
While they Will kill the larvae by contact,
the expense and the labor make their use
Impractlcable The most practical preven-
tive we have found in our experiments In
the agricultural department is the adop-
ton of sealed closet for manure. When
it was pitched out into the barn yard IL
was breeding place for millions of flies,
which swarmed through the offices of the
department and among the neighborins
houses. Last year a closet by feet
in size was built in the corner of the sta
Bile and the window was covered with a
fine wire screen. Frequent careful exam
nations showed no evidence Of larvae.
and a shovelful of chloride of lime scat
tered in the closet every day made breed
ing impossible. The effect was immedl-
ately noticed by the clerks of the depart
ment and residents of the nelghborhood,
who reported to us that after a few weeks
the flies alr'ost entirely disappeared"
by adopting similar measures, by build
| ing tight closets for manure livery sta
BILE keepers, farmers and others who have
| horses can reduce the fly pest In a great
measure. l know of no other way in
which It can be done, for while flies breed
in all kinds of offal, the most prolific
| source is the ordinary stable"
How fast do flies multiply"
can ordinary house fly will lay 100 eggs
during its existence. and 80 per cent. OF
them will be Matched out. During the
ordinary summer twelve or thirteen
| generations of flies will be produced, 60
| you can make the calculation yourself
Every female fly is the progenitor of mil
lions of flies during a single summer
"There are four OF five kinds of house
| flies. The most common known TO ento-
mologists is the 'musca domestica, me-
| dium-size grayish fly with it's mouth
spread out for sucking up liquid sub
stances 1t cannot bite. There Is an
other fly called the 'stomoxys calcitrans,
| which resembles IL closely, but differs In
| having an important appendage that is
| built 10 pierce the skin. 1t is second in
abundance. Both Of these flies are chiefly
bred in manure. In our experience md
discovered that they will seldom lay their
| eggs in aything else.
There are several other kinds of flies,
but these two are the most common, and
| to them we owe the nuisance that house
wins suffer. The eggs are Matched into
larvae within twentyfour hours after
they are laid. They remain In the larval
state from five 10 seven days and In the
pupal state a similar time. The average
| life of fly is from ten to fourteen days"
Does the fly serve any useful purpose? %
| MOT so far as be have ever discovered, "
| said DR.. Howard, land II does a great dea
more injury than people commonly sup
| pose. We are accustomed to think of flies
| simply as a nuisance, but they are I'M
| doubtedly the carriers of contagion, as
was abundantly proved during the war OF
| secession and also in the camps of our
army last summer. II is the judgment Of
| the highest authorities that a considerable
part of the typhoid fever was due to the
flies in the camps"