THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



275 



THE SCREW WORM. 



BY A. R. KILPATRItK, M, D., GRIMES CO., TEX. 



In the same mail I herewith send you 

 specimens of half-grown Screw Worms 

 taken from the root of a hog's ear. The 

 hog had heen bitten by a dog on the ear 

 a few days before, and the worms had 

 nearly destroyed the ear of the hog when 

 its condition was discovered ; carbolized 

 oil was applied to the sore, which caused 

 the worms to move to the surface so they 

 could be taken out with forceps. While 

 the worms are in the burrow they con- 

 stantly eject, or discharge, bloody water, 

 which runs from the sore, and this discharge 

 is very often the first intimation, or sign, 

 of their presence. While they are sucking 

 and not disturbed, or sickened, or disabled 

 by any poison or insecticide, it is very 

 difficult to dislodge them, as they hold on 

 to the flesh with great tenacity, and as 

 there are usually great numbers of them 

 tightly imbedded in a hole. 



These worms have been more numerous, 

 more troublesome and more destructive 

 this year than usual. All the newspapers 

 of Texas have reported their ravages in 

 stock, and amongst people, in all parts of 

 the State. In Arkansas, Mississippi, and 

 Louisiana, they are more numerous and 

 destructive in years of overflow, and it is 

 generally understood here that they are 

 more numerous in wet years ; and this has 

 been an unusually rainy summer and fall. 



They infested the slaughter pens and 

 meat-stalls of the markets and deposited 

 their larvae on the meat, and the larva 

 would instantly pierce the meat and con- 

 ceal themselves, eat, grow and flourish. 

 People refused to buy market-meat during 

 the time of their prevalence. I tried to 

 get some butchers to bring me the Screw 

 Worm flies, but they would not do it, as 

 they thought, no doubt, such a thing would 

 injure their credit as butchers and diminish 

 the sale of their meat. I regret that I 

 failed to get a fly for you. 



I herewith send slips clipped from news- 

 jiapers in some counties in different parts 

 of the State showing the ravages of the 

 Screw Worms on people, and, of course, 



there were dozens of other instances which 

 escaped the pencil of the country editors. 

 They were decidedly more numerous 

 and pestiferous from the middle of Sep- 

 tember to the present time (9th Oct.) than 

 they were earlier in the season. Frost 

 always stops or destroys them : 



Recently a lady of Collin County was out pick- 

 ing cotton, when a peculiar fly bit her on the nose. 

 It was ascertained a few days afterward that 

 Screw Worms had formed and made their way 

 under the eye to the brain. Physicians were 

 summoned, who administered calomel. Two 

 hundred worms were extracted, and the lady is 

 recovering. 



Concho County. — Times: Screw Worms are 

 unusually bad this season. Dr. Laton recently 

 extracted over two hundred from the nose and 

 head of a Mexican boy. Thanks to the doctor's 

 skill, the boy recovered. 



A Horrible Death. — Dallas, September 24. 

 — An unknown man, supposed to be a German 

 named Weijgleb, was found off the railroad in 

 a vacant shanty, near Groesbeck, nearly lifeless 

 and horribly afflicted with screw worms in the 

 hands, feet and root of the spine. He had been 

 lying in the shanty thirteen days without food or 

 drink. Notwithstanding all efforts to save his 

 life, he died soon after his discovery. He had 

 on his person a pocket knife, one dollar in 

 money, a watch chain and a locket containing 

 two beautiful women, which he said were his 

 sisters, and a certificate from a pawn shop in 

 Dallas bearing the above name. 



Mason County. — Some ten days ago, Katie, 

 the ten-year old daughter of Thos. Mahoney, re- 

 siding on Peters's praitie, was taken seriously 

 ill, and, after a few days, %vas brought to town 

 and placed under the medical charge of Dr. 

 GrandstafT, who, on examination, discovered 

 that she had been attacked in the nose and mouth 

 by screw worms, caused, it is supposed bv 

 bleeding at the nose. There were a great many 

 of the worms, and the sufferings of the little 

 victim were almost intolerable. Dr. G. suc- 

 ceeded in removing over 250 worms from the 

 nose and throat, and although still suffering some- 

 what from fever, it is believed that Katie will 

 soon recover. 



New Species of Sc.a.le Insects. — We 

 publish in the present number a communi- 

 cation from Mr. W. H. Ashmead relative 

 to a circular scale injurious to orange 

 trees. We welcome with pleasure the 

 work of all new entomological observers, 

 but take this occasion to earnestly advise 

 such to be cautious in the matter of des- 

 criptions of new species. Descriptive 

 work can only be satisfactorily performed 

 with the aid of extensive special literature, 

 often difficult of access and expensive, 

 while biological work, in its broadest 

 sense, can always be carried on with the 



