VETEEINAEY MEDICINE, 591 



infected droppings or food contaminated thereby. Infection from chick to 

 chicli can not, apparently, talie place after they are three or four days of age. 

 As a rule, infected chiclis malce less satisfactory growth than those that are 

 apparently normal, and for some time they appear stunted and weak, but may 

 eventually undergo more or less complete development. The female chicks 

 which survive often harbor the infecton and may become bacillus carriers, 

 infection in the breeding iiens being perpetuated in this manner. In all 

 probability infection does not pass from adult to adult. Infected hens are 

 apparently poor layers, especially in their second and subsequent laying 

 season." 



A therapeutic agent for fowl diphtheria, J. Reidenbach (Leipzig. Gcflilgel 

 Ztg., 1910, No. 11; ahs. in Berlin. Tierarztl. Wchnschr., 26 (1910), No. 5, p. 

 116). — After trying numerous antiseptics against fowl diphtheria, among the 

 number being 50 essential oils, the author concludes that ajowan oil possesses 

 the strongest antiseptic action and is better than carbolic acid, formic acid, 

 and formaldehyde. This oil is obtained from the fruit of Ptgchotis coptica, an 

 annual plant which resembles caraway and has for its habitat Egypt, Persia, 

 and the East Indies. 



Spirillosis of fowls and Argas persicus in E-oumania, D. Mezincescu and 

 J. Calinescu (Bui. Soc. Path. Exot., 2 (1909), No. 6, pp. 292, 293).— The authors 

 have found fowl spirochetosis to occur in Roumania, and think that in that 

 country it is the cause of a large part of the mortality among domestic fowls 

 which has been reported to be due to fowl cholera. 



Ducks and geese, as well as the common fowl and occasionally young turkeys, 

 are attacked by the disease. Argas persicus has been found to be abundant 

 in all poultry houses in which the disease has been observed to occur. The 

 authors report a high mortality in naturally infected fowls but much lower 

 in those artificially infected. 



The filaria in the turkey's eye, M. Ozoux (Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris], 

 68 (1910), Xo. 20, pp. 91 'i, 97.5).— The author reports that a filaria, probably 

 O-njspirura mansoni, frequently occurs beneath the membrana nictitaus of 

 turkeys in all parts of the island of Reunion, as many as 8 having been found 

 in one eye. None could be found in the blood. 



A trematode parasite of the English sparrow in the United States, L. J. 

 Cole (Bui. Wis. Wat. Hist. Soc, n. sen, 9 (1911), No. 1-2, pp. J^2-48, pis. 2; 

 ahs. in Science, n. ser., 33 (1911); No. S57, p. 853). — The author has found young 

 English sparrows at Madison, Wis., to be very commonly infected with the 

 trematode parasite Monostoma faha. This parasite, which forms conspicuous 

 cysts in the skin of the abdominal region, has long been known in Europe but 

 has hitherto been reported in only 1 or 2 isolated cases on this continent. In 

 the locality of Madison it appears to cause a certain mortality and it is thought 

 possible that it may become one of the means which will help check the in- 

 crease of the English sparrow. Unfortunately it attacks other small passerine 

 birds of several families as well. 



A bibliography of 7 titles is appended. 



On a Halteridiuni and Leucocytozoon of the wood owl and their further 

 development in mosquitoes, M. Mayer (Arch. Protistenk., 21 (1911), No. 3, 

 pp. 232-25.i, pis. 2). — The author has found a Halteridium in the wood owl 

 (Syrninm aluco), which develops in Culicidse to flagellates (in Culex annulatus 

 at room temperature and in C. pvpiens and Stcgomyia calopus at a lower tem- 

 lierature) for which the name H. syrnia is proposed. 



" Beside a Leucocytozoon of the wood owl motile forms were found in the 

 blood analogous to those described by Schaudinn ; these have hitherto been ob- 

 served only in association with it and certainly belong to its cycle. A partial 



