Science: Draw

In the relentless, never-ceasing war of man v. insect, each side has just won a minor skirmish:

In Orlando, Fla., after two years of experimenting and selective breeding, the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine produced a sturdy strain of houseflies that could survive doses of DDT big enough to scare a beetle. Flies of the 35th generation were as robust as ever after absorbing twice the amount of DDT it takes to kill a normal fly. A fit few were still buzzing after a triple dose. While the bureau saw no danger of a race of superflies, there was still a possibility that such a race might evolve. Lately the bureau has received reports that a few barnyard flies in various parts of the U.S. have already learned the trick.

In Columbia, S.C., after a three-year study, the National Malaria Society’s Journal reported some cheering statistics. Aboard some 28,000 planes entering the U.S. annually from malaria-infested areas were “several thousand” mosquito stowaways. But only 11% wriggled through the rigid quarantine curtain and arrived alive at New Orleans, Miami and Brownsville. Of these, not more than 20 a year were the exotic, potential carriers of malaria. The chances of this tiny number ever managing to survive and increase, the Journal said, were “infinitesimal and of no quarantine concern.”