The copper era and Morenci leader. [volume] (Clifton, Ariz.) 1911-1929, 1913-05-23
THE HOUSE FLY.
The Homes Greatest Enemy.

OIL havana IS TO-DAY ulleu III Tic
American homo by the common house
fly. 1t is not one whit more neces-
sary, and recent Investigations have
Indicated that it may be proved to
be almost as dangerous to our people
as was the mosquito to the inhabi-
talits of Havana, Jamaica and the
Canal Zone.
It has been scientifically proven
that theh ouse fly can and does trans
NIT typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet
fever, dysentery, cholera, diarrhoeal
diseases of children, tuberculosis, and
pus-forming affections.
The common house f1y-Musca Do
mestica, as it is called technically
is essentially creature of filth. More
than 80 per cent of house flies are
bred on horse manure. When the
female fly is ready to lay her eggs,
she looks for a suitable material on
which to deposit, them. Her first
choice is horse manure, and, as !
have said, more than 80 per cent. of
them are laid there. Her next pref
erence is for human excrement. If
these are not available, she will lay
',her eggs in the excreta of any other
animal or any fermenting grabeSe,
| old straw bedding, or old rags.
each female lays on an average l2O
eggs at a time and she may lay
: as many as four times. In eight
| hours the eggs are Matched out by
/ the warm fern enting manure or other
/ organic substance on which they were
laid The eggshell splits and the
young comes forth in the form CT
larva or maggot, gilstening white and
about two-thirds inch long. 1t is ex-
tremely active and burrows at once
| into the underlying substance, rapid
I ly disappearing from sight. The term
of the growth of the maggot or larva
| varies according to the temperature,
but it takes on an average five CD
days for it to mature. 1t is very
active at all times, and if disturbed
will quickly wiggle out of sight Dur
ing these five days it feeds voracious-
ly on them anure or other substance,
putting on fat to get ready for the
next stage of its development, the
resting or non-feeding stage in which
it is called a pupa. The transforma-
ton to pupa may take place any
where, but generally the larva viii
first descend deeper into the manure
pile or two or three inches into the
loose, moist earth beneath it,
The only good word to be said
about the house fly is that the larvae
or maggots destroy enormous quanti-
ties of facial matter thus aiding the
bacteria of putrefaction. The full
grown maggot is about two inches in
length When it goes into the rest
ing or non-feeding stage at the end OF
five days and becomes pupa, II at
once contracts from its outer skin,
(which forms a case in which the fu-
ture fly develops.
This pupal stage lasts about five %
days at the end of which time the fly
pushes off the front end of the outer
sheath or case and emerges full
grown house fly.
Some of us have no doubt wonder
ed why, we do not see young flies.
The reason is that the young flies
are all in the sheaths in stage OF
DEVELOPMENT and do not emerge from
this shell until they have reached
adult life.
The first instinct of the newly
emerged fly is to search for appetiz-
ing food. He evidently has an acute
sense of smell, for he at once goes
to the nearest kitchen, being attract
ed by the oder of cooking food.
(, After gaining entrance to the house,
he walks over our food and possibly
bathes his filthy feet and wings N
the milk or water which we are to
Y drink and ends his tour by resting
for a few minutes on the faces and
lips of our young children.
Each fly has, besides two claws, SIX
feet each of which is supplied with
two sticky pads On the walking
surface these pads are covered with
hairs which secrete a sticky fluid, ell
abling the fly to walk on any surface.
AS you can see, these feet are admira-
bly, adapted for carrying the filth from
the manure piles and privy vaults
where the flies originated and where
they still congregate, to our food and
drink.
The average duration of the life of
a fly is about two weeks 1t has
I been calculated that there are about
nine generations of flies in Washing
ton, D. c., in each season and at
this rate, counting 120 young as be-
ing the ordinary fly family, it has been
computed that six trillions are pro-
duced from one fly in a single sea
son. What becomes of flies in the
in winter time? The first contin-
uous frost kills the largest part of
them, but quite number manage TO
hibernate in houses, kitchens, cellars,
andi n this country, in old mine shafts,
for the winter, and those are suffi-
Gent to soon start a goodly crop next
spring. These alternating flies breed
during the winter and those berd in
winter live longer and are much
harder than those bred in the sum-
mer. They will live from ten TO
eleven week in the winter time. Re-
garding his habits, the fly rests at
night time In absolute or nearly
absolute darkness he is quiet. He IS
not fond of bright sunshine.
Regarding their distance of flight,
it has been found that, although they
can fly comparatively long distances
as matter of fact they confine their
flight to the distance between their
breeding places and the nearest food.
So, if we have flies in our houses we
can rest assured that their breeding