878 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. n5 



A stomach worm, thought to be Heemoiichus contortus, has been found on 

 the island in only one case, that of a native cow. 



It is said that the seriousness of the parasitic infestation of swine can 

 hardly be overestimated. The kidney worm {Stephanurus dentatus) and a 

 lungworm, probably Strongylus paradoxus, are important parasites, the latter 

 causing the most serious and fatal disease of swine on the island. 



Coccidial white diarrhea is said to cause large losses among chicks at the 

 station. Success in combating this disease has resulted from proper care, 

 including the use of a medicated drinking water made up of 1 gal. of bichlorid 

 of mercury solution (1: 10,000), 3 grains of citric acid, and one 30-gm. sulpho- 

 carbolate tablet. In tests made of the efficacy of this treatment, it was 

 found that the chicks not given the medicinal drinking water nearly all 

 succumbed, whereas those receiving it have not averaged a loss of more 

 than two chicks per hatch. It is stated that in the absence of proper treat- 

 ment and the presence of such predisposing causes as improper brooding 

 and poor feeding the mortality will run between 90 and 100 per cent, whereas 

 by eliminating all predisposing causes and using the treatment above recom- 

 mended the mortality should be reduced to 5 per cent or less. 



Chickenpox or sorehead is the most widely disseminated poultry disease on 

 the island. Chicken cholera is said to have done more to discourage the 

 poultry industry than any other factor, two outbreaks having been investi- 

 gated during the year. Diphtheritic roup is present in all parts of the island, 

 investigations having shown at many as 50 per cent of a brood of young 

 chicks to be affected, and the mortality among untreated chicks going as 

 high as 90 per cent. 



The endoparasites of poultry mentioned as occurring on the island are 

 several species of tapeworm, the common roundworm, the ceca worm, small 

 round worms which inhabit the proventriculus, and at least one species of 

 eye worm. Eighteen per cent of chicks between four and six months of age 

 which died at the station were found to be infested with a nematode, prob- 

 ably Tetrameres fissispinus. The eye worm, which resembles Manson's eye 

 worm, is said to be commonly found infesting the native fowls. Ectoparasites 

 mentioned are two species of lice, Menopon pallidum and Ooniocotes gigas 

 and a mite, Dermanyssus gaUin<s. 



[Report of the veterixiary department], .J. W. Connaway and A. J. Dubant 

 {Missouri Sta. Bui. 141 (1916), pp. 39-42). — In hog-cholera immunity investi- 

 gations, continuing the studies previously noted (E. S. R., 33, p. 278), "negative 

 results were obtained with the experimental antigen prepared from the blood, 

 kidneys, and lymph nodes of a few pigs suffering from the acute hemorrhagic 

 type of cholera. More extensive work was done with spleen antigens from acute 

 cholera cases, and ulcer antigens from chronic cases, and better results were 

 obtained." 



The results obtained clearly demonstrated that a distinct complement- 

 fixation reaction occurred with the serum of cholera-immune hogs when an 

 extract from the spleen pulp of an animal that had died from an attack of the 

 acute hemorrhagic type of the disease was used as antigen. 



" The question remains open, however, as to whether the results obtained were 

 due to a specific hog-cholera antigen in the spleen extracts, or to associated 

 antigens. But in this connection it is pertinent to state that the cholera spleen 

 from which the experimental antigens were prepared failed to yield cultures of 

 the Salmon bacillus (Bacillus suipestifer) , the micro-organism most commonly 

 associated with the filterable virus of hog cholera. Moreover, tests made with 

 an antigen prepared from a pure culture of B. suipestifer gave no deviation of 



