Abstract
DURING the War the importance of the compound usually referred to as D.D.T. as an insecticide has been demonstrated. In the Bulletin of Entomological Research (36, Pt. 2; Sept. 1945), E. A. Parkin and A. A. Green, of the Pest Infestation Laboratory at Slough, describe experiments in testing the efficacy of controlling the housefly (Musca domestica) by means of D.D.T. They found that when applied as a spray containing 0·1 per cent w./v. or more of D.D.T. in kerosene it is very toxic to the insect in question. At 1 per cent strength D.D.T. gives an effective spray for practical use but at lower concentrations its action is too slow. Its advantages as a fly spray are that it can be prepared synthetically; it is almost odourless; it will not stain fabrics, etc.; it appears to have no marked irritant effect upon the operators up to 2 per cent strength; it is extremely lethal to flies both in solution and in the solid form after deposition on walls, etc., from volatile solvents. Its main disadvantage is its slow rate of action on flies unless used at a concentration of at least 1 per cent w./v.; but, even at this strength, affected flies produce an unwelcome buzzing, for at least an hour prior to the wing muscles becoming paralysed. The slow action of this compound can be overcome by the admixture with. D.D.T. of a smll amount of pyrethrins which has a very rapid paralytic effect. It would appear that the two constituents act independently, the rapid effect of the pyrethrins keeping the flies immobile until the slow lethal action of the D.D.T. has had time to come into effect.
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Toxicity of D.D.T. to the Housefly. Nature 156, 745 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/156745b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/156745b0