The House Fly and How to Suppress It Part 1

The House Fly and How to Suppress It.

by L. O. Howard and F. C. Bishopp.

KINDS OF FLIES FOUND IN HOUSES.

Several species of flies are found commonly in houses. Some of them so closely resemble the true house fly that it requires very careful observation to distinguish them from it.

One of these is the biting stable fly[2] (fig. 1). It occurs frequently in houses and differs from the house fly in the important particular that its mouth parts are formed for piercing the skin. This fly is so often mistaken for the house fly that most people think that the house fly can bite.

Another frequent visitant of houses, particularly in the spring and fall, is the cl.u.s.ter fly.[3] It is somewhat larger than the house fly, and is distinguished by its covering of fine yellowish hairs.

Occasionally this fly occurs in houses in such numbers as to cause great annoyance. It gets its name of "cl.u.s.ter fly" from its habit of collecting in compact groups or cl.u.s.ters in protected corners during cold periods.

Several species of metallic greenish or bluish flies also are found occasionally in houses. These include a blue-bottle fly,[4] the black blowflies,[5] and the green-bottle (fig. 2) flies.[6] They breed in decaying animal matter.

[Footnote 1: _Musca domestica_ L.]

[Footnote 2: _Stomoxys calcitrans_ L.]

[Footnote 3: _Pollenia rudis_ Fab.]

[Footnote 4: _Calliphora erythrocephala_ Meig.]

[Footnote 5: _Phormia regina_ Meig. and _P. terrae-novae_ Desv.]

[Footnote 6: _Lucilia caesar_ L., _L. sericata_ Meig., and other species of the genus.]

There is still another species, smaller than any of those so far mentioned, which is sometimes called the "lesser house fly."[7] This insect is distinguished from the ordinary house fly by its paler and more pointed body. The male, which is commoner than the female, has large pale patches at the base of the abdomen, which are translucent when the fly is seen on the window pane. These little flies are not the young of the larger flies. Flies do not grow after the wings have once expanded and dried.

[Footnote 7: _Fannia canicularis_ L.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.--The stable fly. Much enlarged.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.--One of the green-bottle flies (_Lucilia caesar_). Much enlarged.]

In late summer and autumn many specimens of a small fruit fly, known as the "vinegar fly,"[8] make their appearance, attracted by the odor of overripe fruit.

All of these species, however, are greatly dwarfed in numbers by the common house fly. In 1900 the senior author made collections of the flies in dining rooms in different parts of the country, and found that the true house fly made up 98.8 per cent of the whole number captured.

The remainder comprised various species, including those mentioned above.

[Footnote 8: _Drosophila ampelophila_ Loew.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3.--The true house fly. Enlarged.]

WHERE THE TRUE HOUSE FLY LAYS ITS EGGS.

The true house fly (fig. 3), which is found in nearly all parts of the world, is a medium-sized fly with four black stripes on the back and a sharp elbow in one of the veins of the wings. The house fly can not bite, its mouth parts being spread out at the tip for sucking up liquid substances.

The eggs (figs. 4, 5) are laid upon horse manure. This substance seems to be its favorite larval food. It will breed also in human excrement, and because of this habit it is very dangerous to the health of human beings, carrying as it does the germs of intestinal diseases, such as typhoid fever and cholera, from the excreta to food supplies. It has also been found to breed freely in hog manure, in considerable numbers in chicken dung, and to some extent in cow manure. Indeed, it will lay its eggs on a great variety of decaying vegetable and animal materials, but of the flies that infest dwelling houses, both in cities and on farms, a vast proportion come from horse manure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.--Eggs of the house fly. About natural size.

(Newstead.)]

It often happens, however, that this fly is very abundant in localities where little or no horse manure is found, and in such cases it breeds in other manure, such as chicken manure in backyard poultry lots, or in slops or fermenting vegetable material, such as spent hops, moist bran, ensilage, or rotting potatoes. Acc.u.mulations of organic material on the dumping grounds of towns and cities often produce flies in great numbers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--Eggs of the house fly. Highly magnified.

(Newstead.)]

The house fly begins laying eggs in from 2 1/2 to 20 days after emerging, the time interval depending to a large extent upon temperature, humidity, and character and abundance of food. The number of eggs laid by an individual fly at one time ranges from 120 to 159 and a single female will usually lay two and sometimes four such batches.

Dunn has recently reported that in Panama a fly may deposit as many as 2,367 eggs in 21 batches, and sometimes an interval of only 36 hours may occur between the deposition of large batches of eggs. The enormous numbers in which the insects occur are thus plainly accounted for, especially when the abundance and universal occurrence of appropriate larval food is considered. The eggs are deposited below the surface in the cracks and interstices of the manure, several females usually depositing in one spot, so that the eggs commonly are found in large cl.u.s.ters (fig. 4) in selected places near the top of the pile, where a high degree of heat is maintained by the fermentation below. The second batch of eggs is laid from 8 to 10 days after the first. The eggs usually hatch in less than 24 hours. Under the most favorable conditions of temperature and moisture the egg state may last hardly more than 8 hours. The maggots which issue from the eggs are very small and transparent. They grow rapidly, completing the growth of the larva stage in three days under the most favorable conditions, although this stage usually lasts from 4 to 7 days. The larval period may be prolonged greatly by low temperature or by dryness or scarcity of the larval food.

As the larvae (fig. 6) attain full size they gradually a.s.sume a creamy white color. A few hours before pupation they become very restless and migrate from their feeding ground in search of a favorable place in which to pa.s.s the pupa stage. They will often congregate at the edges of manure piles near the ground or burrow into the soil beneath, or they may crawl considerable distances away from the pile to pupate in the ground or in loose material under the edges of stones, boards, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--Larvae, or maggots, of the house fly. About natural size. (Newstead.)]

The pupae (fig 7), or "sleepers," are more or less barrel shaped and dark brown in color. In midsummer this stage usually lasts from 3 to 6 days.

The pupa stage is easily affected by temperature changes and may be prolonged during hibernation for as long as 4 or 5 months. Numerous rearing experiments in various parts of the country have shown that the shortest time between the deposition of eggs and the emergence of the adult fly is 8 days, and 10 and 12 day records were very common.

The adult fly, upon emerging from the puparium, works its way upward through the soil or manure and upon reaching the air it crawls about while its wings expand and the body hardens and a.s.sumes its normal coloration. In from 2 1/2 to 20 days, as previously stated, the female is ready to deposit eggs. As in the case of other periods of its life history, so the preoviposition period is prolonged considerably by the lower temperatures of spring and fall. In midsummer, with a developmental period of from 8 to 10 days from egg to adult, and a preoviposition period of from 3 to 4 days, a new generation would be started every 11 to 14 days. Thus the climate of the District of Columbia allows abundance of time for the development of from 10 to 12 generations every season.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--Pupae of the house fly. About natural size.

(Newstead.)]

Flies usually remain near their breeding places if they have plenty of food, but experiments recently made at Dallas, Tex., show that they may migrate considerable distances; in fact, house flies, so marked that the particular individuals could be identified, have been recaptured in traps as far as 13 miles from the place where they were liberated.

HOW THE HOUSE FLY Pa.s.sES THE WINTER.

The prevailing opinion that the house fly lives through the winter as an adult, hiding in cracks and crevices of buildings, etc., appears to be erroneous. Under outdoor conditions house flies are killed during the first really cold nights, that is, when the temperature falls to about 15 or 10 F. In rooms and similar places protected from winds and partially heated during the winter flies have been kept alive in cages for long periods, but they never lived through the entire winter. In longevity experiments one record of 70 days and another of 91 days was obtained. No uncaged house flies were found during three seasons'

observations in unheated and only partially heated attics, stables, unused rooms, etc., where favorable temperature conditions prevailed.

The common occurrence in such places of the cl.u.s.ter fly and a few other species, which may be easily mistaken for the house fly, is responsible for the prevailing belief as to the way the house fly overwinters. There is therefore no reliable evidence whatever that adult house flies emerging during October and November pa.s.s the winter and are able to deposit their eggs the following spring, although they may continue active in heated buildings until nearly the end of January. On the other hand, there is evidence that house flies pa.s.s the winter as larvae and pupae, and that they sometimes breed continuously throughout the winter.

In experiments at both Dallas, Tex., and Bethesda, Md., house flies have been found emerging during April from heavily infested manure heaps which had been set out and covered with cages during the preceding autumn. In the Southern States, during warm periods in midwinter, house flies may emerge and become somewhat troublesome; they frequently lay eggs on warm days.

The second way in which the house fly may pa.s.s the winter is by continuous breeding. House flies congregate in heated rooms with the approach of the winter season. If no food or breeding materials are present they eventually die. However, where they have access to both food and suitable substances for egg laying they will continue breeding just as they do outdoors during the summer. Even in very cold climates there are undoubtedly many places, especially in cities, where house flies would have opportunity to pa.s.s the winter in this manner.

CARRIAGE OF DISEASE BY THE HOUSE FLY.

The body of the house fly is covered thickly with hairs and bristles of varying lengths, and this is especially true of the legs. Thus, when it crawls over infected material it readily becomes loaded with germs, and subsequent visits to human foods result in their contamination. Even more dangerous than the transference of germs on the legs and body of the fly is the fact that bacteria are found in greater numbers and live longer in its alimentary ca.n.a.l. These germs are voided, not only in the excrement of the fly, but also in small droplets of regurgitated matter which have been called "vomit spots." When we realize that flies frequent and feed upon the most filthy substances (it may be the excreta of typhoid or dysentery patients or the discharges of one suffering from tuberculosis), and that subsequently they may contaminate human foods with their feet or excreta or vomit spots, the necessity and importance of house-fly control is clear.

In army camps, in mining camps, and in great public works, where large numbers of men are brought together for a longer or shorter time, there is seldom the proper care of excreta, and the carriage of typhoid germs from the latrines and privies to food by flies is common and often results in epidemics of typhoid fever.

And such carriage of typhoid is by no means confined to great temporary camps. In farmhouses in small communities, and even in badly cared for portions of large cities, typhoid germs are carried from excrement to food by flies, and the proper supervision and treatment of the breeding places of the house fly become most important elements in the prevention of typhoid.