CONTROLLING FLIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 26, 21 November 1944, Page 5

CONTROLLING FLIES

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

DO YOU TAKE THEM FOR

GRANTED ? The following is an extract from the Health Inspector's, (Mr A. R. Knights)* circular issued by the Whakatane Borough Council regarding the control of Hies:— Too many people do not realise what a menace (lies ar c to a community particularly one. such as Whakatane where there is no. sewerage system, and as vet no refuse ) collection with properly controlled tipping. During the hot weather you have probably made frequent complaints about, the number of ilies in the. house, but do you ever stop to consider if you arc playing your part in . the effort to reduce the ily population? The fly feeds and breeds in filth. The. legs and.body of a fly arc covered with hairs, and filth and germs stick to these, hairs when the fly visits the. rubbish pit the privy cr collections of,manure etc. The fly then visits your home, fouling any food on which it crawls. Flies have a filthy habit of vomiting a previa ous meal —particularly when feeding on something hard .such as sugar—• on vour food your table Avails ceilings( windows etc., and he is also careless about where lie leaves his bowel movements. Of course these droppings contain filth, and possibly germs of disease and every ily spot, you sec on food or in the house is either the vomit or bowel movement of a fly. You must, realise how ne-* cessary it is to keep all your food covered and protected from fly contamination especially that which is adready cooked, and that which is eaten uncooked —fruity s.ugar i} milk, etc. The life cycle of the fly is usually about 7 to ten days, depending on temperature and food supply. __ The eggs which, are white, shiny, and like 'minute grains of polished rice are laid in crannies and shady places in batches of 120 to 150 at a time. In about 24 hours they hatch out into maggots, or larvae, which move about and feed, and are fully developed in from 3 to 5 days. When fully grown the larvae leaves the food supply, burrows into the soil in a dry place and changes into the chrysalis or pupa stage, which. lasts for 3 or 4 days. In colder weather development, is much slowed and may take 2or 3 months. The chrysalis is like a tiny first yellow, but turning dark In-own. The adult fly hatches out of the pupa case and in about an hour is ready to fly and carry on the work of spreading germs and filth. It is as well to remember that the adult fly, when emerged from the chrysalis, can work its way up through three feet or more of light sandy soil. Thus if fly blown refuse is merely buried without being properly burnt first the eggs will hatch and you may' wonder where flies are coming from. When burying waste, matter and refuse see that it is covered and protected from flics before they have any opportunity to deposit eggs. Remember One fly lays 120 to 150 eggs every few days, and one batch of eggs can produce 'up to one million flies in a season of 9 to 10 weeks, and no adults are on light duty.

The various methods of destroying flies are in general, well known. These include trapping,, swatting, spraying etc. Every method must be closely pursued if the fly population is to he decreased. However, for lly traps and poisons to work there must be no other attraction about the place. It is useless, trying, to trap ilies if you are feeding them elsewhere.

Flies carry and spread the germs of Typhoid Fever, Dysentery, Summer Sickness and allied diseases. The first and main consideration is the prevention of «V breeding." This must come first, but the killing off of all adult ilieS must go on also and if measures taken are to be fully effective everyone must do his part, -