Flytraps and Their Operation [1930]Bishopp, F. C. (Fred Corry)
Science
Flytraps and Their Operation [1930]
Bishopp, F. C. (Fred Corry)
Flies -- Control
A modification of the previously described trap has been made by 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.
Conical traps with galvanized-iron 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, however, 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.
Under no condition should the sides or top of the trap be of solid
material, as the elimination of light from the top or sides has been found
to decrease the catch from 50 to 75 per cent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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