Flytraps and Their Operation [1921]Bishopp, F. C. (Fred Corry)
Science
Flytraps and Their Operation [1921]
Bishopp, F. C. (Fred Corry)
Flies -- Control
A modification of the previously described trap has been made by Mr. D. C.
Parman of the Bureau of Entomology. The principal point of advantage in
this type is that it can be made more quickly and with fewer tools. The
principles and dimensions are the same, the most striking difference being
the absence of a wooden top. A single hoop with the thick edge down forms
the upper frame of the cylinder and the entire top is made of screen.
A circular piece of screen with a diameter about 3 inches greater than
the diameter of the cylinder is cut; a hoop with a diameter equal to the
inside of the top of the trap is then made of heavy wire and laid upon the
disk of screen and the edges of the screen bent in over it. By folding in
and crimping the edges of the wire over the wire hoop it will remain in
position without difficulty and the edges of the screen disk are used to
lift the top of the trap out for emptying flies. It is important to have
the screen top fit the inside of the cylinder very snugly at all points.
If there is any space left where flies can escape it is a good plan to
bind the edge of the top with a strip of burlap. This not only helps
to close the openings but keeps the hoop in place and aids in removing
the top. Another difference is that the screen forming the sides of the
cylinder is placed on the inside of the hoops and legs, the frame being
built first and then the cylinder formed by tacking the wire on the inside
of the hoops and nailing in along the upright strips and against the wire
short pieces of laths with their upper ends against the lower edge of the
hoop forming the top of the trap and extending downward along the legs
about two-thirds of their length. These strips hold the wire in place and
give rigidity to the trap, and they are thick enough to project beyond the
inner surface of the hoop and form a support upon which the edges of the
screen top rest.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Tent flytrap. When the trap is set up the screen
box. _A_, fits on the base, _B_, and two pans of bait are placed beneath
the tent. _C_, Hole in screen at apex of tent.]
Conical traps with steel frames are satisfactory, but they are less easily
rescreened. These, of course, can be constructed only by shops with
considerable equipment. Traps constructed with a wooden disk about the
base of the cone, and a similar disk around the top to serve as a frame,
or those with a square wooden frame at the bottom and top, with strips up
the corners, are fairly satisfactory. It should be borne in mind that the
factor which determines the number of flies caught is the diameter of the
base of the cone, if other things are equal. Therefore the space taken up
by the wooden framework is largely wasted, and if it is too wide it will
have a deterrent effect on the flies which come toward the bait. For this
reason it is advisable that the wood around the base of the cone should be
as narrow as consistent with strength--usually about 3 inches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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