[Illustration: Showing how flies may spread disease by means of contaminating food.] Recently the stable fly has been found to carry the dread disease known as infantile paralysis. [Illustration: There were 329 typhoid cases in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1910, 158 in 1911, 87 in first 10 months of 1912. 80 to 85 per cent of outdoor toilets were made fly proof during winter of 1910. Account for the decrease in typhoid after the flies were kept out of the toilets.] Remedies.--Cleanliness which destroys the breeding place of flies, the frequent removal and destruction of garbage, rubbish, and manure, covering of all food when not in use and especially the _careful_ screening of windows and doors during the breeding season, will all play a part in the reduction of flies. To the motto "swat the fly" should be added, "remove their breeding places!" [Illustration: Flea which transmits Bubonic plague from rat to man.] Other Insect Disease Carriers.--Fleas and bedbugs have been recently added to those insects proven to carry disease to man. Bubonic plague, which is primarily a disease of rats, is undoubtedly transmitted from the infected rats to man by the fleas. Fleas are also believed to transmit leprosy although this is not proven. To rid a house of fleas we must first find their breeding places. Old carpets, the sleeping places of cats or dogs or any dirty unswept corner may hold the eggs of the flea. The young breed in cracks and crevices, feeding upon organic matter there. Eventually they come to live as adults on their warm-blooded hosts, cats, dogs, or man. Evidently destruction of the breeding places, careful washing of all infected areas, the use of benzine or gasoline in crevices where the larvae may be hid are the most effective methods of extermination. Pets which might harbor fleas should be washed frequently with a weak (two to three per cent) solution of creolin. Bedbugs are difficult to prove as an agent in the transmission of disease but their disgusting habits are sufficient reason for their extermination. It has been proven by experiment that they may spread typhoid and relapsing fevers. They prefer human blood to other food and have come to live in bedrooms and beds because this food can be obtained there. They are extremely difficult to exterminate because their flat body allows them to hide in cracks out of sight. Wooden beds are thus better protection for them than iron or brass beds. Boiling water poured over the cracks when they breed or a mixture of strong corrosive sublimate four parts, alcohol four parts and spirits of turpentine one part, are effective remedies. How the Harm done by Insects is Controlled.--The combating of insects is directed by several bodies of men, all of which have the same end in view. These are the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture, the various state experiment stations, and medical and civic organizations.