Produced by Tom Cosmas compiled from images made available by The Internet Archive. Transcriber Notes Text emphasis displayed as _Italics_ and =Bold=. Issued July 31, 1911. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. FARMERS' BULLETIN 459. HOUSE FLIES. BY L. O. HOWARD, _Chief of the Bureau of Entomology_. [Illustration] WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1911. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, _Washington, D. C, May 23, 1911_. 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. Respectfully, L. O. Howard, _Entomologist and Chief of Bureau_. Hon. James Wilson, _Secretary of Agriculture_. [A list giving the titles of all Farmers' Bulletins available for distribution will be sent free upon application to a Member of Congress or the Secretary of Agriculture.] CONTENTS. Page. Introduction 5 Life history of the true house fly 7 Carriage of disease 9 Remedies and preventives 10 Natural enemies 15 What cities and towns can do 15 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. 1. The common house fly (_Musca domestica_); Puparium, adult, larva, and details 5 2. The biting house fly (_Stomoxys calcitrans_): Adult, larva, puparium, and details 6 3. A stable fly (_Muscina stabulans_): Adult, larva, and details 7 4. One of the blue-bottle flies (_Phormia terrænovæ_): Adult 8 5. The green-bottle fly (_Lucilia cæsar_): Adult 8