228 THE SHEPHEKD'S MANUAL. 



wound heals. No other remedy than these is safe or certain, and 

 these frequently fail. This class of parasites possesses some 

 importance to the shepherd, not only from the loss occasioned 

 amongst his flock, but from the danger of the results to the 

 consumers of mutton. The farmer's or shepherd's own dog may 

 be the means of injury to his flock, and he should take means to 

 free the dog from the tape- worms by means of proper medicines, 

 of which the powdered areca nut is the most effective, as well as 

 to prevent vagrant dogs from stocking his pastures. 



The areca nut is administered as follows. Previously, one scru- 

 ple of jalap, for a dog of 20 to 30 pounds in weight, should be ad- 

 ministered, and a brisk action of the bowels set up. This may 

 also be procured by giving the dog a quantity of butter or any of 

 the common purgatives. Immediately afterwards half an ounce 

 of the powder of areca nut is to be given in pills or in some ac- 

 ceptable food. Some locks of tangled wool dipped in grease or 

 melted fat are given at the same time to be swallowed. The 

 worm is killed or paralyzed by the areca nut, is entangled in the 

 wool, and all together are expelled by the purge. The mass should 

 be immediately burned or buried at a perfectly safe depth in the 

 ground. Applied to every dog at intervals of three months, this 

 treatment will free them from tape- worms, and prevent danger of 

 the sheep becoming infested with them. 



Tape-worms, (tcenia plicata), in the intestines. The sheep them- 

 selves are sometimes infested with mature tape- worms. This is 

 easily explained by the possibility of the sheep swallowing along 

 with their pasture some of the eggs which may have been voided 

 by any of the numerous bearers of these worms, both domestica- 

 ted and wild. It has been stated that the intestinal tape-worm is 

 ver} r rare, if not unknown, in sheep in this country. This would 

 seem to be erroneous. A correspondent of the National Live 

 Stock Journal of September, 1875, from Missouri, reported his 

 lambs all dying of a strange disease in which the first symptom 

 was a falling off in condition, followed by a mild diarrhea. This 

 occurred in June, and continued up to August, when 30 out of 60 

 were dead, and nearly all the remainder were ailing. On exami- 

 nation after death, the small intestines were found " packed full 

 of tape-worms." This can hardly be a unique case, and we may 

 very well conclude that tape-worm in the intestines is one of the 

 parasitical diseases that we have to combat. 



Generally the symptoms developed by the presence of tape- 

 worms are voracity of appetite, alternating with a refusal of food ; 

 loss of condition, desire to swallow earth, stones, sand, or ashes ; 



