Seasonal Abundance and Vertical Migrations of Lucilia Caesar Linn. and Other Insects in an Artificial Grove*

Abstract

During the spring of 1922, working under the direction of Dr. C. L. Metcalf, I undertook the study of certain insects common in the forestry plot on the campus of the University of Illinois. This grove of trees, comprising about twenty acres of land, was planted in 1871, and contained samples of trees of various kinds, planted in rows, and spaced several yards apart. The undergrowth in the plot was mowed each year, and the grove was kept much as a park might be. On the east and north it was bordered by the residence section of the city and on the west and south by the ornamental gardens and experimental fields of the University farm. The whole neighborhood was kept reasonably free from all garbage and carrion which might serve as breeding places for flies, with the possible exception of the manure used as fertilizer on the campus farms and gardens.