What do houseflies really like?

[curt wong]

Steven M. Cohen wrote in message ...
>Rick:
>
>Do you know what gas is given off my decaying animals or fecies?  We
>certainly know it has a distinct odor, but what gas or gasses would it be?
 
 
This is far from my field of expertise, but there are many different gases
given off by decaying flesh.  The smelliest are sulfides and amines,
byproducts of the bacterial digestion of sulfur-containing amino acids, as
mentioned in another post, and nitrogen-containing amino acids.  There are
two major volatile compounds, at least in terms of stench, produced from
decaying flesh.  They have glamorously been named cadaverine and
putrescine - create quite an *image*, don't they?  Both are di-amines.
 
               -curt-