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in an infected spot, throughout the year. No earthworms, no 

 gapes. This view is supported by inquiries made in various parts 

 of the country where there are no earthworms, in which places, 

 they say the fowls do not have the gapes. The embryo of 

 Syngamus has been found in the earthworm, and identified by 

 tracing it through its different stages from the earthworm to the 

 trachea of the chick, and also by artificial culture. That they pass 

 through the esophagus of the chick is demonstrated by finding 

 them beneath its mucous membrane, and just after they had 

 passed through into the lungs; also, by finding the esophagus 

 adherent to the lungs in many chicks which had the gapes, this 

 condition not being found in those which did not have this disease. 

 That the disease is transmitted from one year to another by drink- 

 ing water containing the embryos, is rendered impossible in a cold 

 climate, where the water is frozen many times during the winter, 

 and often dried from the surface in the summer. That the robin 

 (Turdus migratorius), and probably many other worm-eating 

 birds may act as a host for Syngamus, and thus be instrumental 

 in spreading the disease, is proved by feeding three robins and 

 finding full-grown worms in their tracheas. That the union be- 

 tween the genital organs of the male and female is incomplete at 

 its posterior part, so that the eggs can be, and are readily ex- 

 pelled during the life of the worm, proved, by seeing this take 

 place under the microscope. That the mature Syngamus, while 

 yet in the trachea of the fowl, lays its eggs, which are coughed up, 

 swallowed, and pass through the intestines of the fowl to the 

 ground. Proved, by finding the eggs in the excretions, and the 

 living worms from which eggs were passing, in the trachea. That 

 the genital organs of the sexes are not grown together, proved, 

 by separating them without rupture, and finding them to adhere 

 by means of suckers on the genital organs of the male. That the 

 mature egg does not contain an embryo is proved by examining 

 them after they are naturally expelled by Syngamus, and finding 

 that two or three weeks are required for the embryo to develop in 

 them. That the embryo of Syngamus is but slightly affected by 

 the anthelmintics which have been used to prevent and cure the 

 disease, as asafoetida and garlic. They cannot be relied on for 

 this purpose. Lastly, to prevent your fowls from having the 

 gapes, remove them to some spot where the disease has never 

 existed, or destroy the infested earthworms in the ground with 

 common salt. 



