6 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 308 



feet! and water, or iier\"es su])])l\ iiig the digestive s\'stem were affected and mal- 

 nutrition had set in. 



In some cases lymphoc\tomas were found conipleteK' surrounding ner\e trunks 

 without showing any exidence of in\asion, as stated b\- Matthews and W'alkey 

 (1929). On the other hand, many cases of avian paral\sis were found in which 

 visceral organs, muscles, the integument, and ner\ous tissue were simultaneoush- 

 involved. In some of these cases the diseased condition appeared to have spread 

 by infiltration and in others metastasis had apparently taken place through the 

 blood stream. The infiltrations were continuous and involved contiguous nerves 

 and organs. The most common simultaneous infiltration of nervous tissue 

 and visceral organs occurred in the celiac plexus, ovary, and adjacent structures, 

 with the vagus nerve and thymus glands next. The common invasion of the 

 sciatic nerve and kidne\- was found in 10 cases from the same flock. It appeared 

 from histological examination of diseased tissues that a common pathological 

 cell was involved in both nerves and \'isceral organs, as appears in Fig. 4. This 

 finding is in agreement with that of Bieh", Palmer, and Llo\ d (1933). 



V^4 '/ ' '' 





FijJiire 4. Neurolvmphoma of Sciatic Nerve (a) and Lymphocytoma of the Connective Tissues 

 and Surrounding Muscles ibj. (Magnified 100 diameters.) 



Neurolymphomatosis 



In general, it cannot be stated that an>- particular nerve or plexus is more 

 susceptible to invasion than another because neuroK mphomas were found in 

 all ofjthe nerves of the fowl, and two birds were found in which every mctor nerve 

 in the bod\ appeared to be affected. These two birds were in a most helpless 

 condition. Paralysis is especially evident when the sciatic nerves, brachial 

 plexus, celiac plexus, vagus, and optic nerves are in\olved because important 

 functions of the body are interfered with, and the lesions are more e\ident at 

 necropsy in large nerves than in small ones. A careful checking up on i he location 

 of the gross lesions of neuroKniphomatosis in the flocks studied did not reveal 

 an>- outstanding flock specificit\-. such as might be attributed to family weakness 

 or inherited predisposition, although such nia\- have existed and our ob.servations 



