64 POULTRY DISEASES 



in young, immature worms tlu'ougli soiled food 

 and water. 



Treatment.— The treatment is difficult owing to 

 the fact that they are imbedded in tumefactions 

 in the walls of the gizzard. Give turpentine and 

 olive oil as directed for the treatment of Ascaris 

 inflexa infestations. The treatment should be re- 

 peated three or four times at intervals of one 

 w«ek. 



Syngamus Trachealis 



This parasite is sometimes called the Scleras - 

 toma syngamus, and popularly the forked worm 

 or gapeworm. There is another worm slightly 

 larger than this one that infests the bronchi and 

 trachea of ducks, swans and geese. It is called 

 the Syngamus hronchialis. 



Description. — The male is very much smaller than the 

 female, upon which it exists as a parasite. Pig. 23 illustrates 



these worms in copulation as they are 

 always found. A, illustrates a section of 

 mucous membrane. B, the male, which, 

 it will be noted, is much thinner than the 

 female and scarcely one-fourth inch long; 

 and C, the female, about one inch in 

 length. The mouth parts are surrounded 

 by a capsular arrangement by which it 

 holds firmly to the mucous membrane of 

 the trachea or bronchi (windpipe). The 

 mouth parts are provided with chitinous 

 Fig. 23. Syngamus teeth, with which they wound the mucous 

 Trachealis membrane; from this wound they suck 



(natural size) blood. 



A, Mucous membrane ^ .. __. „, „ 



of trachea. Life Histoiy. — The female produces 



B, male. C, female. eggs which escape from her body only 



after she is expelled from the host and 

 her body decomposed. The embryos thus escaping from the 

 decomposing and disintegrating female are taken up by earth 

 worms. Thus, chicks drinking contaminated water, or eat- 

 ing these infested earth worms, in turn, become infested; 

 or if the chick should pick up an expelled female containing 

 the mature eggs, the embryos would be liberated in the 

 stomach of the chick, in which case they migrate to the 

 air sacs and air passages and grow to maturity. 



