20 LEHMAN'S POULTRY DOCTOR. 



GAPES. 



Gapes is a bronchial affection in young fowls. It is 

 not well understood by many poultry raisers and is a 

 trouble that causes great losses. 



Cause: The real cause of this annoying trouble is 

 small worms in the air passages. There are two kinds. 

 The one most common and the one that affects 

 chickens, turkeys, pheasants, etc. is known as "Scle- 

 rostoma Syngamus" or ''Syngamus Trachealis." 



The worm appears forked and really is two worms 

 as the male and female are at this period always to- 

 gether, which the word syngamus, (meaning marriage) 

 implies. The larger being the female and the smaller 

 branch or fork the male; therefore the female is about 

 three times as long and twice as thick as the male, 



These worms are provided with mouths or suckers 

 with which they attach themselves to the mucous 

 membrane of the windpipe. The female is loaded 

 with eggs which escape only after her death, usually 

 when coughed out, and are deposited in the earth and 

 are again taken up by another fowl or by earth worms, 

 beetles, etc., and these, containing the eggs, are 

 eaten by the bird in whose stomach the envelopes be- 

 come digested and the embryo or young gape worm 

 set free, which is supposed to bore its way through the 

 walls of the digestive organs and the air sacks (the 

 latter communicating with the lungs) and from thence 

 into the air passages. At this stage or when entering 

 the lungs, the sexes unite, at which time they are of 



