74 WORM PARASITES. 



extremely fatal malady, and yet great ignorance still 

 exists regarding it and the life-history of the worm 

 that is accountable for it. 



This Nematode worm producing Gapes has been 

 described under the following names, as well as that 

 given in the heading, viz., Sclerostoma syngamus, 

 Diesing, and Syngamus bifurcatus. This worm 

 (fig. 22), that lives in the air-passages of the galli- 

 naceous birds, produces tracheo-bronchitic symptoms. 

 The genus Syngamus, to which the Gape-worm be- 

 longs, has also members living in the air-passages of 

 mammals. 



Fig. 22. 



The Gape-worm. 



The Gape-worm is often very abundant also in 

 Pheasantries and causes great havoc. It is known 

 to gamekeepers as the Red or Forked Worm. 



The disease was first, I believe, reported by 

 Dr. Wiesenthal in the ' Medical and Physical Journal* 

 for 1799 (May), who observed it at Baltimore, U.S.A., 

 both in Fowls and in Turkeys. The first English 

 record I can find is by Montagu, in the ' Transac- 

 tions of the Wernerian Natural History Society ' 



