United States Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin No. 459

House Flies

Sir: I have the honor to transmit for publication a paper dealing with the subject of the house fly or typhoid fly. Previous publications of this department concerning this insect have been in circular form, but it is desired to make this information more widely available through the medium of a Farmers' Bulletin. With this intention this manuscript has been prepared, being modified and amplified from Circular No. 71 of this bureau, and I respectfully recommend its publication as a Farmers' Bulletin. There are several species of flies which are commonly found in houses, although but one of these should be called the house fly proper. This is the Musca domestica L. (fig. 1) and is a medium-sized, grayish fly, with its mouth parts spread out at the tip for sucking up liquid substances. It is found in nearly all parts of the world. On account of the conformation of its mouth parts, the house fly can not bite, yet no impression is stronger in the minds of most people than that this insect does occasionally bite. This impression is due to the frequent occurrence in houses of another fly (Stomoxys calcitrans L.) (fig. 2), which is called the stable fly, and which, while closely resembling the house fly (so closely, in fact, as to deceive anyone but an entomologist), differs from it in the important particular that its mouth parts are formed for piercing the skin. It is perhaps second in point of abundance to the house fly in most portions of the Northeastern States. It breeds in horse manure, cow manure, and in warm decaying vegetation like old straw and grass heaps. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 59554
Author: Howard, L. O. (Leland Ossian)
Release Date: May 19, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English