Our Insect Enemies

This vivid natural history turns the ordinary household fly into a menace at the center of disease, decay, and daily life. It traces the housefly's rapid life cycle from egg to maggot, pupa, and adult, then shows how its feet, hairs, and feeding habits make it a mobile carrier of filth from refuse to kitchens, dining rooms, and milk supplies. Through statistics, case studies, and sharp humor, the book argues that flies are not mere nuisances but dangerous agents in the spread of typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, dysentery, infant diarrhea, eye infections, gonorrhea, and possibly bubonic plague. The practical response is equally urgent: screen houses, destroy breeding places early, treat manure, improve waste disposal, and replace unsanitary privies with sanitary closets. The discussion widens to stable flies, cluster flies, lesser houseflies, blue-bottle flies, cheese flies, and moth flies, each with its own habits and hazards. It then moves into the broader insect world, from the deadly tsetse fly to mosquitoes and malaria, explaining how Anopheles carries the parasite through a complete transmission cycle. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.