82 The Air-sac Mite of Chickens. 



tion of the larynx, if tliis is pushed upward toward the buccal 

 cavity with the trachea. In smaller birds they become visible, 

 according- to Renne, if after removal of the feathers, the trachea 

 is drawn out with the skin covering it and held before a strong 

 light. 



Treatment. The worms which are situated in the upper 

 portion of the trachea can sometimes be extracted by the aid of 

 a long slender pair of forceps. Good results have recently been 

 obtained by the intratracheal injection of a 5% solution of 

 salicylate of sodium (Klee). 



1.0 cc. of this sohition is iutrodneeil with a syringe provided with an obtuse, 

 bent needle. It is injected from the pharyn.x into the larynx or trachea. One may 

 also push the needle into the trachea, which is held between two fingers. Since 

 the trachea of smaller birds is hard to enter in this manner, it is sometimes necessary 

 to lay it free through an incision into the overlying skin. The parasites drop off 

 after the injection and are expelled by violent attacks of cough. 



Prophylaxis. The expelled tracheal secretion, the feces and 

 the cadavers of diseased birds must be destroyed; the floor 

 and the poles of the coops must be disinfected ; pools in the barn- 

 yard must be dried out ; the feeding and drinking vessels must 

 be cleaned repeatedly. Megnin advises to spread denatured 

 common salt on the floor (250 gm. to each 100 square meters of 

 floor space). Sprinkling the soil with luirnt lime may likewise 

 be serviceable. Sick birds must l)e separated from healthy 

 ones. 



Literature. Klee, D. t. W.. 1S09, 4n.l (Lit.).— Neumann. :\ral. paras., 1S92, 

 587.— Railliet Zool. med., 1S9.'3, 453. 



Syngamus laryngeus occurs in the larynx of cattle in the southern 

 provinces of Annani. hnt it does not produce any disturbances. 



(b) The Air-sac Mite of Chickens. Cytoleiehus Sarcoptoides. 



Cytoleichus sarcoptoides (Cytoides nudus), a mite, II/2 min. long, 

 the female of which is oviparous, occurs occasionally in large numbers 

 in all parts of the air passages, especially in the large air cells. The 

 evolution of this mite is unknown. It occurs preferably in the air 

 passages and larger air cells of chickens and pheasants, where it forms 

 very small white, occasionally motile, points visible to the naked eye, 

 which form a hoar-like deposit when nutch crowded together. Ex- 

 ceptionally the mites are also found in the air spaces of the hones ; 

 and the mucosa of the bronchi rarely becomes catarrhal under their 

 influence. Then the mites are found in an abundant mucopurulent 

 mass or in croupous membranes. 



Cytoleichus sarcoptoides frequently does not produce any symp- 

 toms of disease, even if present in large numbers. In other cases it 

 causes a catarrhal condition of the air passages with cough which, 

 according to Ziirn, is accompanied by a peculiar sound, as if a small 

 foreign body had gotten into the trachea. In an exceptionally extensive 



