150 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



evidently only necessary when the disease has 

 advanced so far that immediate suflbcation be- 

 comes inevitable ; or h may be resorted to when 

 other methods have failed. In the most far-gone 

 cases, instant relief will follow this operation, 

 since the trachea may with certainty be cleared 

 of all obstructions. 



" Lastly. The most essential thing to be ob- 

 served, in view of putting a check upon the future 

 prevalence of the disease, is the total destruction 

 of the pa7-asites after their removal—a. precau- 

 tion, however, which cannot be adopted, if Mr. 

 Montagu's mode of treatment is followed. If 

 the worm be merely killed and thrown away 

 (say upon the ground), it is scarcely likely tha't 

 the matu7-e eggs will have sustained" any injury. 

 Decomposition having set in, the young embryos 

 will sooner or later escape from their shells, 

 migrate in the soil or elsewhere, and ultimately 

 lind their way into the air-passages of certain 

 birds in the same manner as their parents did 

 before them." 



I will in a few words give the results of my 

 own observations. I have had, at different 

 times, the disease amongst my own hens. Doc- 

 toring them according to books has invariably 

 failed with me. I concluded to experiment, 

 even at the risk of a few, and succeeded with 

 the last two I had suffering with the disease. 

 One of these had the windpipe completely filled 

 up, and was about suffocating. 



The only remedy with which I have had suc- 

 cess, is the carbolic acid, which I have found 

 very serviceable, both as a preventive, and as a 

 pretty sure remedy, even in far gone cases. The 

 following is my mode of treatment: 



Dissolve one grain of pure crystalline carbolic 

 acid in ten drops of alcohol, and add half a 

 drachm of vinegar. Strip a small quill feather 

 till within half an inch of the narrow end of the 

 shaft. Secure the feathered patient, moisten 

 the feather in the solution, and introduce it into 

 the M'indpipe, turning it round once or twice, 

 and then remove it. It will dislodge the worms, 

 and bring back many of them adhering with 

 slime on to it. Great dexterity is required, and 

 some little knowledge of the anatomy of the_ 

 parts: a slow, unskillful operator may kill the 

 already half-suffocated bird, instead of curing 

 it. Next I put the bird in a coop, with some 

 shavings dipped in a solution of the carbolic 

 acid (half iiii ounce of the crystalline acid, well 

 mixed with one quart of water). Food and 

 water is given in small tin boxes placed conve- 

 nient to the bird. Administer flour of sulphur, 

 with a little ginger, in poultaceous food, com- 

 posed of barley-meal and coarse corn-meal. In 

 the drinking water placed before the bird, should 

 be mixed a few drops of the last-mentioned 

 solution. The mouth and beak should be washed 

 morning and evening with some of the solution. 



The shavings should be removed mornings, or 

 be sprinkled well with the solution morning and 

 evening. 



If at all curable, the bird will be free from 

 the disease within three days. The bird should 

 be kept in a dry, warm place, apart from the 

 rest of the fowls. 



As a Preventive I feed young chicks twice 

 a week with wheat, steeped in a solution of 

 carbolic acid (the solution to be in the propor- 

 tion of one teaspoonful of my above-mentioned 

 solution to one pint of water). All wood and 

 coal ashes from the house, is thrown into the 

 nest-house, and on the floor of the roosting- 

 house — having both houses separate. The roost- 

 ing house is thoroughly cleansed every Satur- 

 day, and some of the solution of carbolic acid 

 sprinkled on the floor and roosts once every 

 month. The disinfecting and deodorizing pro- 

 perties of the carbolic acid, render it alike 

 valuable as a preventive of contagion, and as a 

 destroyer of vermin. 



F. S. — As the carbolic acid is sparingly solu- 

 ble in water, the solution recommended should 

 always be shaken before used. 



INSECTS IN.IURI01TS TO THE GRAPE-VINE.-No. 6. 



The Blue Caterpillars of the Vine. 



Besides the large Sphinx caterpillars, de- 

 scribed and figured in previous numbers, evei-y 

 grape-grower must have observed certain so- 

 called "Blue Caterpillars," which, though far 

 from being uncommon, are yet very rarely suf- 

 ficiently numerous to cause alarm, though in 

 some few cases they have been known to strip 

 certain vines. There are three distinct species 

 of these blue caterpillars, which bear a suflB.- 

 ciently close resemblance to one another, to 

 cause them to be easily confounded. The first 

 and by far the most common in the West, is the 

 larva of 



The Eight -si'OTTED Forester-- (Alypia 



[Fig. IIIO.] 



octomaculata, Fabr.) — This larva (Fig. 100, a) 



