INSECT PARASITES. 37 



night, when thev cause severe irritation and much 

 loss of blood. Railliet records that hens hatching- 

 are so tormented bv these insects that they finally 

 abandon their eggs, on which are then seen small 

 specks of the Bugs' excrements (Bull, de la Soc. 

 de Med. Veter. pratique, 1890, p. 99) . I have only 

 once seen this insect attack in England. 



A new Fowl Pest. 



Lastly a species of Collembola, one of those lowly 

 insects that Sir John Lubbock tells us are like the 

 primitive insects, and which perhaps represent some 

 ancestral form from which all other insects have 

 sprung, is said to affect fowls. 



A single case of this pest has alone been brought 

 to mv notice. The insect was not sent, but a poor 

 photographic plate taken of it was. From this it 

 appears to be an Tsotoma. This apteron was said to 

 be a great torment to hens, and was usually found in 

 old and foul nests. 



The Chigoe of the Fowl. 



Two other Fleas are found on fowls abroad : one, 

 Sarcopsylla gallinaeea of Westwood, a flea related to 

 the dreaded ' Jigger ' f S. America, is found on 

 fowls in Ceylon, especially at Colombo. Another, 

 the Alakurt [Vermipsylla alakurt of Schimkievitsh), 

 which is a remarkable flea found in the autumn in 

 certain valleys and on particular mountains in 

 Turkestan, also lives on the fowl in common with 

 man and most other animal-. 



