MYCOSIS OF AIR-PASSAGES. 95 



The Aspergilli are formed of thin colourless fila- 

 ments forming a matted layer or thallus, and a 

 looser mass above, the so-called aerial mycelium. 

 The lower filaments will be seen to be unequally 

 divided by septa and to ramify about. From the 

 aerial mycelium there appear upright branches ending 

 in bunches of spores — the conidia. Other curious 

 masses are noticed which contain eight larger spores, 

 called ascospores, and which are set free by the 

 rupturing of their case. 



Symptoms. 



The usual symptoms of Mycosis are heavy breath- 

 ing, accompanied with curious guttural sounds, loss 

 of appetite, feathers loose and erect, drooping wings, 

 and general depressed condition. In a few weeks 

 the malady causes emaciation, the bird becomes 

 thoroughly cachectic, and dies. 



Sometimes the 'mould' blocks up the bronchi 

 entirely, and death becomes sudden by asphyxiation. 



On examining a bird that has succumbed to this 

 disease, one finds a number of dirty yellowish-green 

 tubercles in the trachea, bronchi, lungs, and air- 

 sacs, from 6 to 20 mm. in thickness, sometimes even 

 larger. On their surface are found the mycelia and 

 conidia of the mould. The tubercles formed in the 

 lungs very much resemble those of phthisis. 



It may be that the spores which originate this 

 disease only take root, as it were, in already unhealthy 



