The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-06-12

one quarts in 1914, and only one quart
in 1915 up to June IL.
Flies are a hobby with ). A. Ram
say, city sanitary sergeant. What he
does not know about flies is not much
and he expects to learn that. No one
but Ramsay ever would take the time
! to count the number of flies in a
quart measure. But Ramsay did it.
He spent ter evenings at the task and
announced that 1854 flies are re-
quired to fill a quart measure.
Ramsay states that flies rarely trav-
ell more than 500 feet from their place
of origin, and on this belief he bases
| his declaration that it is not only pos
sible for city to rid itself of flies,
but that it is also possible for city
block to be kept free from flies re-
gardless of it's surroundings. Along
the same line of reasoning, he argues
that IN a very large measure the per-
sons living in a city block are respon-
| sible for the flies in that block.
One thing which has helped much
in the capture of early flies this spring
| is the fact that most of the trees in
the city were girdled with sticky sub
stances to protect them against moths
which produce the canker worm
Flies as we'll as moths were caught.
Since trapping has become unprof-
table on account of the scarcity of
flies, the sanitary department recon-
! mendS the use of tangle-fOOt fly pa
per and a vigilant application of the
swatter. On the first of each month
this summer an inspector from the
sanitary department of the city will
visit each restaurant, eating house.
hotel and other business place and
make a report of the number of flies
| found in each place. Possibly they
will be given a grade according to
Varieties of Flies.
AS result of his study of flies.
Ramsay says there are six varieties
Snfficianf1U
demand attention.
First, there is the large horse
fly, or cow-fly, nearly an inch long
and of grey or black color. Armed
with proboscis which it inserts into
the surface veins of the animal, it
sucks the blood until full and then
laz1ly flies away. We know but lit
| tie of its propagation, and fortunately
Tor the animals it never becomes num-
erous.
Hardly ever more than three or
TOUR are seen on any one animal at
one time. Their torture is terrible
and kind nature seems to have re-
stricted their numbers
| Next, there is the green-head, or
horse-fly, about half an inch long,
armed like the larger sDecies with a
sharp probosciS which it inserts in a
blood vein, and sucks until full. To
! torment horses is it's especial delight
but like the larger species it is limited
in numbers. 1t is known by it's green
| head, and its green or drab body,
which clings closely to the animals
body while feeding. resisting all eff
forts to drive it off If it were as
numerous as the common house fly
it would surely exterminate the ami
NAL species on which it feeds.
Another blood-sucker is the little
gray fly a trifle smaller than the COM
| mon houSe-fly, but often confused
with it because they mingle together
and are caught in the same traps
Only few of them come into houses,
where they annoy persons by biting,
or inserting the sharp proboscis and
sucking the blood as the mosquito
does. No doubt they are conveyors of
disease from animals to mar or from
man to man They are found in in
Vulnerable swarmS about filthy horse
stables where they breed in manure
deposits if not covered. On account
of their numbers they become exceed
horsemen are compelled to cover
/ horses to protect them from their at
| tacks-
The Texas Fly.
For the last twenty-five or thirty
years Kansas and the middle west has
! been infested by another blood-sucker
/ in the shape of the black. or Texas
/ fly, or horn-fly as it is sometimes
called.
This fly closely resembles the lit
tie gray fly described above, but it is
nearly black, and its wings lie close to
i its body. and its habits are different
Z 1T IS the special pest OF cattle and
rarely ever bothers horses. 1t clings
closely to the body of the animal,
while it sucks the blood, and roosts
all night around the roots of the
horns or in the folds of skin about
the animals body. The species breeds
"a pidly in the droppings CT the cattle
on pastures as early April, and
especially during rainy --esons- They
swarm over the herds of cattle, which
crowd together for protection, md
stay with them day and night until
late in the fall
'tAll of the four species mentioned
above are blood-suckers and subsist
I on the blood of animals, rarely en-
tering houses. But doubt they
often carry disease by biting infected
animals and men, and carrying the
infection to healthy men, and animals
also They are rarely ever found on
a dead or decaying animal. or on any
putrid matter. Their sole food is
blood which they prefer to suck from.
the veins of a living animal
But it is to the next two specimens
1 shall mention that / wish to direct 4
attention. They are the blue bottle, /
or blow-hy, and the common house /
fly, or human fly. These two are the 1
scavengers of nature, focking to any