The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-09-13
WEDNESDAY. SEPT. 10, 1905.
FLY MORE DANGEROUS
THAN IMPURE WATER
Bulletin from State Agricultural Col
legc on This Most Com.
mon Pest.

The fly season, everybody is
thankful to note, is nearly over for
this year, but the following bulletin
from the Washington State Agricul-
tural college, by Professor A. l..
Melander, assistant entOmologist. is
worth preserving for next year. The
bulletin full is as follows:
The commonest insect to be found
in the houses throughout the country
Is the househy. 1t outnumbers many
times over all other insects found in
our homes. It's commonness causes
us to overlook it's presence. or too
often to accept it as a necessary
matter of course, or at most as a
slight nuisance. and make no en-
deavOr to free ourselves of its pres
ence. Were the habits of the insect
known much ado would be made
whenever the disgusting fly is found
in our homes.
The ordinary flies with which we
are familiar have not always existed
in that form. Flies are the adult
stage of maggOts, and between the
maggot stage and the adult stage
there is a pupa stage, time when
the insect is motionless and helpless.
Maggots hatch in few hours from
eggs laid by the adult housefiy. A
single fly lays on an average 100
eggs. The duration of the maggot
stage Is about five days. The pupa
stage lasts five days more, at the end
of which the pupa becomes the ma
ture fly. Accordingly. in ten days a
complete generation of houseflies
p,fc nd w
begun laying the eggs for another
generation Because of the short
duration of the life cycle from 10 to
II generations are produced in the
course of single summer.
But very few housefies survive the
winter, and almost all of them stay
in our houses during the cold months.
The very few which escape freezing,
parasites. mould or disease awaken
in the spring to lay eggs for the first
brood of the season From then on
houseflies increase in numbers in
geometrical ratio until they quickly
become a pest. Let us show in con-
sentative numbers the possibilities of
single Overwhelming female:
May 1--One female awakens to lay
100 eggs.
May 15--6O females resulting
therefrom lay 1900 eggs.
June 1900 females of second
brood lay 432, 900 eggs.
June 15-216.900 females of third
brood lay 25.920.000 eggs.
July 1-12,960, 900 females of
fourth brood lay 1.555,220, 900 eggs.
July 15-777,6 100000 females of
fifth brood lay 93,312, 100000 eggs.
August 1---46,656, 100000 females
of sixth brood lay SEQ ,000,-
900 eggs.
August 15-2,799, 800 100000 fe-
males of seventh brood lay $780,
$4,000, 900. 900 eggs.
September l - 1G7, 961 600, 000,-
600 females of eighth brood lay go
155.392 900 ZOO eggs.
September 5-10,077, G96, 000,-
000,000 females of ninth brood lay
1,209,323,52O, 1000, 100000 eggs.
Think of over quintillion of flies
to torment us in the fall just because
a solitary female escaped the winter!
Fortunately such numbers are never
realized, for many flies of each gene
ration never reach maturity. Were
flies to breed uninterruptedly for the
entire season the individuals of the
latter generation would not have
soon to exist; the earth would be
covered with a solid mass of flies
Lack of breeding places is the only
reason why hOusetlies do not occur
by the millions where one occurs
now.
ihe 1870 eggs laid by the househy
are all placed in fresh horse manure
If that cannot be found and human
excrement is available it is made
the second choice. Within a day
the eggs have Matched to maggots
which proceed to feed on this filth.
Five days of feeding suffices to nour-
ish them to their full growth, where
upon they change to pupae This
change is accomplished by shrink
age, toughening, and darkening of
the maggot's skin. Within this skin
the maggOt changes over to the adult
NORTHUMBERLAND