[Proc. Eot. Soc. Victoria, 23 (N.S.), Pt. I., 1910]. 



Art. XVII. — Note on the Existence of S'firocJiaetosis 

 affecting Fowls in Victoria. 



By J. A. GILRUTH, D.V.Sc, M.R.C.V.S., F.R.S.E. 



(Professor of Yeterinai-y Pathology in the University of Melbourne). 



[Read 3rd March, 1910]. 



The Fowl Tick (Arc/as) has been recognised as an exceedingly 

 troublesome skin parasite of the domesticated fowl in certain 

 parts of the northern districts of Victoria for a number of 

 years past, and its association with a fel)rile condition, especi- 

 ally in young birds during the summer months, has, it would 

 appear, been commonly observed, although, as far as I can 

 gather, beyond some short paragraphs in the daily press (until 

 the last month, when an article by Dr. A. A. Brown appeared 

 in the " Journal of Agricidture "), no definite scientific obser- 

 vations have been placed on record. This is rather surprising 

 in view of the fact that the Department of Agriculture, I am 

 informed, has for some years been endeavouring to prevent the 

 spread of the tick to other districts. 



Soon after my arrival in Melbourne, at the commencement 

 of last year, I was informed of the existence of the so-called 

 " tick-fever " in certain districts. Seeing that since 1903, when 

 Marchoux and Salimbini first described the jjresence of a spiro- 

 chaete in the blood of Brazilian fowls affected with the tick 

 A?-(/as, other obsei'vers in India, Sudan, Rhodesia, Bulgaria and 

 elsewhere have also demonstrated the connection between the 

 two pai-asites, I was naturally anxious to ascertain if in Aus- 

 tralia, along with the tick as a skin parasite, the spirochaete 

 was also associated with a blood parasite. I found it, however^ 

 impossible to secure a tick-infected fowl during the past 

 summer. 



Since then. Dr. S. Dodd, Chief Veterinary Officer and 

 Bacteriologist to the Queensland Government, in his last annual 

 report, describes fully the disease Spirochaetosis as aflPecting 



