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BiSHOPP (F. C.) & Wood (H. P.). Mites and Lice on Poultry. —U.S. 

 Dept. Agric, Washington, D.C., Farmers' Bull. no. 801, May 1917, 

 27 pp., 14 figs. [Received 7th November 1917.] 



The external parasites of fowls dealt with in this bulletin include 

 the common chicken mite, Dermanyssus gallinae, De G., which breeds 

 in the cracks of roosts and buildings and feeds on the blood of fowls. 

 Two or three applications of crude petroleum or certain coal-tar 

 products to the breeding-places are generally sufficient to destroy this 

 pest. Suggestions for suitable roosts and nest-boxes are given with 

 diagrams. A mite, Cnemidocoptes mutans, Robin, is the cause of 

 scaly-leg on poultry, and can be controlled by dipping the legs in 

 crude petroleum. For C. galUnae (itch mite), which burrows into the 

 skin near the base of the feathers, applications of sulphur ointment are 

 recommended. Laminosiojites cysticola, Vizioli, and Cytoleichiis nudus, 

 Viz. . are soft-bodied mites ; the former bores into the skin, and the 

 latter is found in the air passages, lungs and internal organs of chickens 

 and turkeys, and, when present in large numbers, interferes with the 

 breathing of the bird. Rivoltasia bifurcata, Riv., feeds on the feathers, 

 causing no apparent injury. Freyana chanayi, Trou., and Megninia 

 cubitalis, Megn., are found on the wing-feathers of turkeys but are 

 not known to injure the birds. The chiggers, or red mites, that attack 

 chickens are the same as those attacking man. Sulphur ointment or 

 kerosene and lard will destroy them, and light dusting of the chickens 

 with flowers of sulphur will help to repel the mites. 



More than 40 species of lice are found on the various domestic fowls, 

 chickens being the favourite host of the majority of them. Injurious 

 species include Lipeurus heterographus, Nitzsch (head louse) ; Menopon 

 biseriatum, Piaget (body louse) ; M. pallidum, Nitzsch (shaft louse) ; 

 Lipeurus variabilis, Nitzsch (wing louse) ; less important being 

 Goniocotes hologaster, Nitzsch, G. abdominalis, Piaget, and G. dissimilis, 

 Nitzsch. A species which seems to be peculiar to turkeys is Goniodes 

 stylifer, Nitzsch. Lipeurus tenvporalis^ Nitzsch, and Docophorus icterodes, 

 Nitzsch, are common on ducks and geese. Pigeons are attacked by 

 Lipeurus baculus, Nitzsch, and Goniocotes compar, Nitzsch. A new 

 insecticide, which is recommended as being both cheap and effective 

 in destroying poultry lice, is sodium fluoride. It is stated that a single 

 application will destroy all species of poultry lice. The application 

 can be made by dusting, but dipping is recommended, this method 

 having the advantage of being cheaper and quicker than dusting ; 

 from 30 to 45 seconds is required for each bird, and no injury has been 

 found to result from this treatment. 



Hargrave (J. C). Cattle Mange (Psoroptic Scabies). — Agric. Gaz. 

 Caiiada, Ottawa, iv, no. 10, October 1917, pp. 860-862. 



Scabies or mange in cattle is a specific disease of the skin caused 

 by a mite, Psoroptes communis bovis. This parasite gives rise to scab 

 in other animals, though a distinct variety of it is peculiar to each, and 

 the malady is not transmissible from one kind of animal to another. 

 Development takes place upon the body of the host, maturity being 

 reached in about eight days ; four days later mating and oviposition 

 occur, each female depositing about fifteen eggs, which hatch in three 

 or four days. 



