218 SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



a second operation, are serious drawbacks to success. We 

 have tried both modes of operating, but the results do not 

 encourage us to place much reliance on surgery as a curative 

 measure. 



Prevention in this, as in other kindred affections, is the 

 lesson which most commends itself to flock-masters. 



We have already pointed out the relationship subsisting 

 between the gid parasite and the tapeworm (tania ccenunis) of 

 the dog, and it will be evident that to guard against the one 

 entails the exclusion of the other from the farm. In the 

 spring of the year in particular, dogs on the farm should 

 be carefully watched, and on the appearance of tapeworm 

 segments in the excrement they should be placed in confine- 

 ment at once and deprived of their liberty until the parasites 

 have been altogether got rid of. To accomplish this a dose 

 of areca nut, or some other suitable vermifuge, may be given 

 while fasting, to be followed by a dose of castor oil after the 

 lapse of an hour. Should one dose not have the desired 

 effect, a second must be administered, and, if necessary, a 

 third. When expelled, every particle of the parasite should 

 be burned, or otherwise effectually destroyed. 



It may be necessary to repeat that only one particular tape- 

 worm (tania ccenurus) is capable of propagating the gid hydatid, 

 but as the characters by which it is distinguished are unknown 

 to flock-masters, it is in the interest of the dog, no less than 

 the flock, that tapeworms of whatever kind should all be 

 destroyed. 



To render the system of prevention complete necessitates 

 not only the destruction of the tapeworm, but also the gid 

 organism. Dogs must not be allowed to eat the brains of 

 infested sheep. Whether the latter be slaughtered, or die 

 from the effects of the disease, the head with its contents must 

 be well boiled and buried. 



With all these precautions, however, gid will continue to 

 prevail, especially in hunting districts where hounds cross the 

 land, and as they, no doubt, do leave behind fragments of the 



