42 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



tliaii tlio part of llii' ImkIv adjoining, and liad a Koriicwlial larg'o opening 

 partly upon one .side. Tlu; other cxtifiuity was pointed, of a dark color, 

 and nearly opaijue, havinjj; no orilice tliat I could discover. Two intestines 

 were traced runninj^ from the middle of the I'ody to about one-eighth of an 

 inch from the extremity, then returning to the middle, where the folds and 

 convolutions became so numerous that 1 could follow them no further. 

 Another vessel, extending abimt two-thirds tiie length of the body, and of 

 a much larger size than the intestines, I took to be the ovary. It contained 

 hundreds of ova, oblong vesicles, the transverse to the longitudinal diame- 

 ter being as one to three, or nearly, and packed together in the most regu- 

 lar order, completely (illing the sack which contained them. A\\ of the eggs 

 were of the same size, and all presented the same appearance, except that 

 Bonio of them had vacant spaces within, as if they were less mature than 

 the others. On examining one of the eggs with a iiighcr power, it appeared 

 to be filled with granulated matter, and to be dividid into two parts by a 

 dark line at a right angle with the longitudinal diameter, and about one- 

 third of the distance from one end. Another peculiarity of llic worm was 

 a pn>cess or proboscis attached to the body alxmt one-eiglitii of an inch 

 from the head, and a little more than one-eighth of an inch in length, and 

 considerably smaller than the body. It was tubular, transparent and col- 

 orless. The worms seemed to lose their deep red color in part b^' standing 

 some time in water, but I could discover no blood globules cither in them 

 or in the water. I examined all the worms successively, and they all pre- 

 sented the same g(;noral appearance. It did not occur tome at the time to 

 search the inner surface of the windpipe for eggs. Not feeling' the interest 

 in this subject before having read the discussion by the Farmers' Club, 

 above referred to, that I have since, I did not make as thorough an exami- 

 nation as I might have done, but from what I saw I was and am fully con- 

 vinced that the immediat(^ or proximate cause of the gapes in chickens is 

 worms in the trachea. Tiie obstruction (»f th(> air passage produced by the 

 worm occasions difficulty of breathing, and causes the chicken to open its 

 mouth at each inspiration; and the frequent sneezing^ or coughing of the 

 little sufl'erer is its effort to eject the foreign substance. How the worms 

 get i"'o the trachea and what becomes of them is more than I can say. I 

 huv«' I. '.I remedy to propose for the disease, but I presume the horse liair or 

 the lea'her introduced into the windpipe ma}' often allay, a?id perhaps in 

 some cases wholly remove the trouble. 1 agree, however, with the mem- 

 b«T8 of the Club that prevention is better than the cure, and 1 liave no 

 doubt it will be preferred and generally adopted ichcn it .''hall have, been 

 foxind out. 



Protecting Vines from Cut-Worms. 



•Mr. A. W. Davis, Marsfudd, Tioga ('ounfy, Pa., says that he efl'ectually 

 prevents the ravages of tlu; cut-worm upon his choice vines and garden 

 plants in the following manner: He digs a little ditch around the hill, so 

 as to make a st^ep embankment of dry, line particdes of soil, up which, if 

 the worm attempts to crawl, he tumbles to the bottom of the ditch. Mr. I), 

 also fences them out with little hof)ps, made by splitting tln^ ash hoops of 

 flour barrels, and tacking tlu; ends togellu^r in a circle just large enough to 

 inclose the plant; tin; edge being inserted in the soil, the worm will not 

 mine under it nor climb over it. 



