139 



The free use of pyrethrum or similar insect powder 

 will completely free clogs, cats or other animals from fleas, 

 and cleanliness and the use of pyrethrum in the sleeping 

 places of the animals will be sufficient to keep them 

 practically free of these pests, 



POULTRY LICE. 



The poultry lice belong to the order Platyptera, and 

 are known as the biting bird lice. The principal of these 

 is Menopon pallidum. This is an active, yellowish insect, 

 about .jVmch in length, with biting mouth parts, and 

 without wings, even in the adult condition. The eggs are 

 small, elongate-oval, and attached to the feathers of the 

 birds. The young live on the skin of the fowls, at the 

 base of the feathers, while the adult insects wander 

 about actively over the skin and through the feathers. 

 The food of poultry lice is composed of the epidermal scales 

 and the fine portions of the feathers. Poultry do not suffer 

 a loss of blood from the attacks of lice, but a constant 

 irritation, rather, due to the presence of these pests. 



Fowls infested with lice can often be distinguished by 

 their ragged plumage, and by the fact that they are 

 constantly dusting themselves. 



Control. Dust baths containing wood ashes or 

 sulphur or tobacco dust are useful in this connexion. An 

 infusion of tobacco stems is useful for dipping infested 

 fowls, and tobacco dust or insect powder, thoroughly 

 applied among the feathers, also gives good results. 

 Sitting hens may be protected by the use of naphthalene, 

 sulphur, onion leaves and tobacco, in the nests. Fumiga- 

 tion of the fowl-house with sulphur, repeated two or three 

 times at intervals of 10 days, is of value in connexion with 

 houses that can be tightly closed. 



POULTRY MITES. Acarina. 



The poultry mite (Dermanyssus gallinae, de Geer), 

 like the red spider and ticks, is not a true insect. This 

 pest feeds on the blood of the host, and frequently occurs 

 in such numbers as to cause the death of young chicks, 

 and to reduce greatly the vitality of older fowls. The 

 mites, which are called nimbles in the West Indies, are 

 entirely nocturnal in their attacks on fowls, hiding in 

 and about the roosting places during the day, and swarm- 

 ing out to feed at night. 



