11 



a disappearance of the fat which in normal 

 birds is there ; a great increase in amount and 

 in the density of the connective tissue ; a 

 dilatation of the blood-vessels, which have 

 further unduly increased in number. Many 

 ^ells, inflammatory in character, also appear. 

 In fact we have, as Dr. Cobbett and Dr. Graham 

 Smith, who have so ably worked out the patho- 

 logy of Strongylosis, and whose results will 

 shortly appear in the Journal of Hygiene, say, 

 "*' a chronic inflammation leading to fibrosis." 

 This portion of the alimentary canal is both 

 14 ' vext " and " agitated." 



But the presence of these worms, and also, 

 I believe, to a minor extent the presence of the 

 transparent tape-worm in the duodenum, has 

 .a, further and indirect ill-effect on the grouse. 

 When hand-reared birds which were free from 

 T. pergracilis were investigated, practically no 

 bacilli were found in the liver or other tissues 

 of the ' grouse. When the birds harboured 

 from 100-1,000 round worms, bacilli occurred 

 in the tissues of about 50 per cent, of the 

 birds bacilli let out from the cavity of the 

 intestine " by a worm's pin-prick," to quote 

 Browning's " Lovers' Quarrel." When over 

 1,000 or more worms were present, the bacilli, 

 with one exception, were found in the liver and 

 in other organs of the body in 100 per cent, of 

 the birds investigated. The exact relation of 

 these bacilli to the sickness of the bird is still 

 a matter of inquiry. It seems as if they are soon 

 absorbed, and that no specific disease is trace- 

 .able to them, but if they exist in numbers their 

 products must exert a harmful influence . 

 More inquiry is here wanted. 



How does the roundworm get into the grouse ? 

 .Between 95 and 100 per cent, of birds on 



