528 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



losses at $7,000 due to poor sausage casings. This must be only a 

 trifle compared with the loss to farmers from lack of thrift. The 

 female when full grown is the largest worm infesting hogs. The 

 average length of the male is three inches, that of the female ten 

 inches. The body is milky white in color, irregularly wrinkled 

 transversely and tapering to a blunt point at its posterior extremity. 

 No digestive tract is present. The genital opening in both sexes is at 

 the posterior extremity of the body. The eggs average about one 

 two-hundred and fiftieth of an inch in length, and are smooth and 

 cylindrical in shape. 



Source of Infection. The eggs pass out with the faeces, be- 

 come mixed with the manure and scattered around the pens and 

 pastures. White grubs which are very plentiful in dung heaps be- 

 come infested with the immature form of the worm. Hogs become 

 infested by eating the grubs which they hunt for in loose, rich soil. 

 The per cent of infection will vary according to the locality and the 

 season of the year. Those pasturing upon sod, especially clover sod, 

 show greatest infection. 



Symptoms. When a number of thorn headed worms are pres- 

 ent in the intestines, they greatly irritate the lining membrane and 

 cause serious symptoms of disease, especially in young pigs. The 

 symptoms as described by observers are loss of appetite, constipa- 

 tion, diarrhea, restlessness, general emaciation, weakness of the 

 loins, and in very young pigs, convulsions and spasms. When the 

 infection is light, no noticeable symptoms occur. At the point 

 where the worm attaches itself, the intestinal wall is inflamed. The 

 inflamed tissue is about a quarter of an inch in diameter and de- 

 pressed in the center where the rostellum is imbedded. Sometimes 

 the head of the worm is buried more deeply than the mucous coat, 

 and the muscular and serous coats become inflamed. Perforations 

 of the intestines have been reported, but such a lesion shonld be 

 questioned. When the intestines are badly infested by parasites, 

 tney are easily torn when handled because of the inflammatory 

 changes in their walls, and the tear is sometimes mistaken for a 

 perforation. 



Treatment. As a preventive measure, we .should not allow 

 hogs to root around old straw stacks and manure heaps. Sometimes 

 white grubs are very plentiful in old hog lots. Plowing the lots 

 occasionally will help to free them from grubs. The turpen- 

 tine treatment as recommended for the common round worm is a 

 very effective remedy, and should be given three days in succession. 

 Better results are gotten if the hogs are dieted over night, and the 

 turpentine administered in the morning. (Ind. B. 100.) 



PIN WORMS. 



The pin worm is quite small. It inhabits the caecum and colon 

 of hogs, and may be found in large numbers in this part of the in- 

 testine. Unless looked for carefully, it escapes notice. The body is 

 white or brownish in color, straight and pointed at both ends. The 

 male is half an inch in length ; the female a little longer. 



