The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1916-04-22

/ ~ D8As ~ ~
A. summer approaches anA bring
with II the ever Irritating. pssssrina
nuisance. the house ~. Il b ven te
consider II (the eandidatss should
not Be the sole topic Of the aay) q
TO its life history. its economic value
is menace to humanity and some
methods Of controlling the tornsst-
ors- Lecturers, authors. civic author
tiles, the pre0 and others have Of
recent years been eanpaig1iAS
against these superabundant crsa-
lures. and rightly. too. The ~ 4
a reerrrent summer plague that has
I been \ peril to mankind since the
;iraes Of the Pharaohs when Egype
was infested With them. followed By
a plague Of "botls and blains" upoa
man and beast.
! The housedy ID . produet Of hu-
man Installation. OF the many yari-
Gus species Of nies. the house ~, II
Is reasonable to suppose, evolved
with insanitary conditions Of life, for
II is the only ny that loves the house
rather than the open air and sun
shine and 10 the most eoastant and
friendly companion Of man. Il u
in every sense . peril and menaes
to humanity and in no way Of any
service or utility to man or In nature.
It has been presumed that the body
louse carried the bacteria causing
the BLACK death" Of former times.
The germs Of bubonie plague have
been carried By the rats neas. The
house ny can be more dangerous to
health In this line. for the hairy
joints and cushions on his feet con-
nected With his manner Of living are
harbors for the carrying and seat
terins OF bacteria. many Of which
are pathogenie
Flies constitute . branch or order
Of the insect family Known - dip
tera-meaning. having two wings.
One Classification divides them into
two large groups: flies that have
piercing mouth parts. or biting,
blood-sucking hies a. the stable ay:
and fies that have not piercing mouth
parts, ~ the house dy. the lesser
house ny. and the blue bottle ny.
Anner classification II worked out ae-
col ding to the vein markings on the
vingS. The blue bottle or blow ny
fre1uents the homo In search Of meat
and careful screening II necessary to
combat IL The house ay b the only
constant eo-inhabitant Of our dwell
ings and therefore the one vs win
consider briefly In order that We may
have more pleasure in svatting II or
otherwise disposing Of this loathy
creature.
The house ny II Ike . true in
sect. passes through or exists in four
stages: the egg. the larva (maGgots),
the pupa or caterpillar stage. and
the image. or full grown ~. When
q ny Is ten days old 1t Il capable Of
laying eggs. It lays . number Of
patches during its life cycle. depos-
itins its eggs in erevices Of the barn
or around garbage cans. It places
ils eggs through the sense Of smell
30 that its progeny may have food.
Magsots cannot Withstand dryness or
daylight 20 the eggs are usually hid
away in moist places near decom-
posing vegetable matter. In the
warm weather Of midsummer the
eggs hatch and the maggots are full
grown pupates In about six days.
In ten days more 1t Il . full grown
ny. Under moro favorable circum-
stances this time may be shortened
and again in cold weather the eggs
or caterpillars may Lie dormant for
months. Eggs deposited In the fall
survive the winter. Again, adult flies
may live all winter indoors whsss
they are protected from the cold. In
this way the species never dies out
but thrives from season TO season.
One pair can produce. say 500 young
nies q month. In two months they /,
would product $50 times 500. In
three months, many millions.
The larval stage (maggots) Of the |
ny II an eyeless. legless worm-liks
creature about half an inch long, the
narrow or pointed end being it, head.
It u In the growing stage and hence
they devour . large amount Of de-
caying matter but in NO sense do they
act a. scavengers. Such use of dies
'ould be easily dispensed with. They
'erve not ~ food in this stage for
chickens or birds. Instinct seems TO
warn birds against them. In the
caterpillar stage. where they appear
NA