Rearing and Isotopic Labeling of Fannia canicularis

With an initial stock of 3,000 pupae and weekly additions of 1,000 pupae, a colony of the little house fly, Fannia canicularia (L.), provided 8,000 to 10,000 eggs per day. Cultures of 1,000 eggs yielded 35% pupae and 70% adult emergence with equal sex distribution. Using milk containing 2.5 millicuries of p32 per liter as the only food source for 24 hours, adult flies gave net counts of 675 to 1,375 c.p.m. at 8 to 10 days, and were considered to be labeled satisfactorily for field dispersion studies.