SHEEP BLOW‐FLY INVESTIGATIONS: CHEMOTEOPIC TESTS CARRIED OUT IN 1936

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Summary: An account is given, of tests on 42 organic substances as repellents for the sheep maggot fly, Lucilia sericata Mg. Repellency was measured by observing the ability of added substances to counteract the attraction of a solution of ammonium carbonate and indole placed in the fleece of a sheep. The substances tested were classified into three groups: (a) repellent at 0.3 per cent (amount added to attractant solution), (b) repellent at 0.9 per cent, (c) not repellent at 0.9 per cent. No substance was found which was repellent at 0.1 per cent.Examination of blow‐flies (L. sericata) trapped when approaching sheep treated with indole and ammonium carbonate, showed that only gravid females are attracted. This chemotropic response depends, therefore, not only on the species, but also on the sex and physiological condition of the fly.The writer wishes to take this opportunity of thanking the Agricultural Research Council for a grant which has entirely financed this work.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: