A study of the development of DDT resistant strains of the house fly Musca domestica L. and the laboratory mouse Mus musculus domesticus L.

The growing use of synthetic chemicals to combat insects of economic importance to man has led to the discovery and wide recognition of changes in the nature of insect populations and of subsequent control failures. Changes which result in inadequate control when an insecticide dosage which was formerly effective is employed are termed insecticidal resistance. Major review papers (Brown 1958, Crow 1960, Metcalf 1955) all conclude that resistance is a result of natural selection taking place with such rapidity that the worker is able to observe the evolutionary processes. Smith (1941) was one of the first workers to call attention to the significance of racial segregation in applied biology