310 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



The most effective way of reaching the parasite in the hair 

 follicles is to extract the hairs individually, but in the horse the mere 

 shaving of the affected part is usually enough. It may then be 

 painted with tincture of iodine twice a day for two weeks. Germs 

 about the stable may be covered up or destroyed by a whitewash of 

 freshly burned quicklime, the harness, brushes, etc., may be washed 

 with caustic soda, and then smeared with a solution of corrosive 

 sublimate one-half dram and water 1 pint. The clothing may be 

 boiled and dried. 



PARASITE: Achorion Schonleini. MALADY: Fabus, or Honey- 

 comb Ringworm,. Megnin and Goyau, who describe this in the 

 horse, say that it loses its characteristic honeycomb or cup-shaped ap- 

 pearance and forms only a series of closely aggregated, dry, yellow- 

 ish crusts the size of hemp seed on the trunk, shoulders, flanks, or 

 thighs. They are accompanied by severe itching, especially at 

 night. The cryptogam, formed of spherical cells with a few fila- 

 ments only, grows in the hair follicles arid on the cuticle, and thus a 

 crust often forms around the root of a hair. Like the other crypto- 

 gams, their color, as seen under the microscope, is unaffected by 

 acetic acid, alcohol, ether, or oil of turpentine, while the cells are 

 turned bluish by iodine. For treatment, remove the hair and apply 

 tincture of iodine or corrosive sublimate lotion, as advised under the 

 last paragraph. 



PARASITE : Microsporon Furfur MALADY : Parasitic Pityriasis. 

 This attacks the horse's head where the harness presses, and leads 

 to dropping of the hair, leaving bald patches covered with a branlike 

 scurf, without any eruption, heat, tenderness, swelling, or rigidity of 

 the skin. A lotion of carbolic acid 1 dram and water 2 1 / ounces is 

 usually applied to effect a cure. 



ANIMAL PARASITES OF THE SKIN. 



Acariasis, or Mange. This affection is due to the irritation of 

 the skin caused by the presence of nearly microscopic acarus, or mite. 

 The disease varies, however, according to the species of acarus which 

 infests the skin, so that we must treat of several different kinds of 

 acariasis. 



PARASITE: Sarcoptes Scabiei Equi. MALADY: Sarcoptic Acari- 

 asis. This is the special Sarcoptes of the horse, but under favorable 

 conditions it can be transmitted to ass and mule, and even to man, 

 and may live indefinitely on the human skin. The mite is nearly 

 microscopical, but may be detected with a magnifying lens among 

 moving scurf taken from the infected skin. Like all Sarcoptes, it 

 burrows little galleries in and beneath the scurf skin, where it hides 

 and lays its eggs and where its young are hatched. It is therefore 

 often difficult to find the parasite on the surface, unless the skin has 

 been heated by a temporary exposure to the sun or in a warm room. 

 Even then it may be needful to tie the scab on the human arm till a 

 pricking is felt, when the acarus will be found in the center of a 

 minute papule caused by its bite. Like other acari, this is wonder- 

 fully prolific, a new generation of fifteen individuals being possible 

 every fifteen days, so that in three months the offspring of a single 



