Arizona republican., 1914-03-29

nave been observed during the past | few weeks in the residential sections l of Phoenix. No doubt a clase exam l ination among cattle herds would re- suit in finding a few specimens of this species at all times of the year and under favorable weather condi- tions it is probable that large num- : bers develop. Such conditions ] be- lieve from casual observations made during the past three and a huff years are not likely to occur except in early spring and in the fall. Now that there is so strong a reason for more exact knowledge concerning the | matter, observations upon the occur ence of this insect in Arizona will be made with more than casual in- 1 terest.
 The House Fly
 The name house fly is such a non descript designation that Dr. l.. o. Howard, the well known chief ento- mologist of the United States De- partment of Agriculture, some years ago proposed the name typhoid fly as substitute. He says, People have altogether too long considered the house fly a harmless creature, or at the most simply a nuisance. While scientific researches have shown that it is a most dangerous creature from the standpoint of dis ease, and while popular opinion is rapidly being educated to the same point, the retention of the name house fly is considered inadvisable. as perpetuating in some degree the old ideas" In Phoenix and most Arizona cities and towns, owing to the small degree of interest in ty- phoid fever, more effective term than typhoid fly would be filth fly, reimnding us of the origin of each individual insect and of it's undesir- ability in the markets and in our homes.
 This insect breeds principally in horse manure. It is estimated that Ifully ninetyfive per cent are of this origin. The remaining five per cent breed for the most part in garbage cans and in kitchen refuse. Breed ing in COW manure is rare. The adult fly deposits from one to four hundred eggs. No artificial incuba- tor is required to develop these eggs, since they hatch in less than half d day under ordinary temperatures. In from five to nine days, according to temperature, the maggots reach full size and transform to pupae enclos ed in brOWnish skin. After a per iod of from five to nine more days the adults appear. The entire life development, therefore, extends from ten to eighteen days. In Washing ton, D. C., it has been determined that there are twelve or thirteen gen. erations each year. An enterprising person can soon calculate the enor- nous seasonal progeny of a single specimen. It is sufficient to say here that the figures quickly run in- to the billions.
 The examination of horse manure to determine the number cf maggots present has resulted in finding 6S5 live larvae or maGcots ir pound of manure in one instance and over a tho !sand in another. In single cubic Inch of soil bencatli q manure pile 200 pupae have been counted 1 II tiit tS pIiOlu Ol Illl'l ltN CpHlIllcti itself 70 the material in which it bree'is IT, harm WouM be done. It is it's Id K of dissemination between filth and the choicest dclicacics of our tdb.e3 which brings .ic pest into disrepdtc. The iaiividual fly We find on the r3ly's milk bottle CT even on the baby's lips may only few min utes before have left indescribably offensive material in which 1t lived as maggot.
 Bacteriologists have determined that flies taken in garbage cans may average six and half million bac- teria per fly. while specimens taken in more cleanly surroundings were found to average in one instance as low as twenty three thousand bac- teria. A total of 414 flies collected under different conditions averaged one and one-quarter million bac- teria per fly. In these examinations pathogenic, or disease producing germs, were not separately recog- nized, but the danger when disease germs are accessible, as is too ire luently the case is evident.
 | AHloHS iHe IldHy ulSedStS WHICH the typhoid fly has been specifically charged with carrying the following are of the most interest to us in Arizona: typhoid fever, dysentary and summer complaint of infants, tu- berculosis and trachOma.
 Alusion has already been made to the part played by flies during the Spanish American war. The United States army typhoid fever commis- sion, after a careful investigation of the cause of the typhoid epidemics in the American camps, concluded that the common fly was chiefly re- sponsible for the severe epidemics of the disease At Greenboro in 1911 there were 69 cases of typhoid fever under ordinary conditions. whereas the following year when a fly fight ing campaign was being vigorously prosecuted there were only g cases Similar results have been secured by the health officers of Norfolk, Vir- giDia, during the past two years.
 Enteritis and other bowel troubles to which children are especially sus- ceptible are unquestiOnably carried by flies. Natural fed babies are said to be favored 25 to one as compared tage is no doubt largely due to the contamination of nursing bottles and |. milk by the ubiquitous germ carrier ! under discussion. In one city ir ! England no mortality from diarrhoea