720 UR. II. B. FANTIIAM OX AVIAN COCCIDIOSIS. [May 3, 



Qtilck Uuie ilestroys tlie oocysts and spoi'ocysts. It also causes 

 the faoces to cake, thereby p\*eventing scattering of the spc^res. 

 It is somewhat douhttul whether lime could he applied on a large 

 scale. It might be somewhat harmful to the feet of the birds, 

 apart from the dithcnlty of distributing it over large areas. 

 Where the area of infection is small, it is probable that the 

 application of lime to the soil would be of service. IVIy experi- 

 ments on a small plot of heather at Camlnidge have shown that 

 small qu.'intities of lime dressing are not <letrimental to heather. 



Cas lime and slaked lime also are useful, but each is open to the 

 same oljjection as (piick-lime. Lime in one form or another 

 certainly seems to have the best and most rapid action on coccidian 

 oocysts of any I'eagent that 1 have tried. 



/Salicylates. — Salicylic acid and sodium salicylate act rather 

 slowly on coccidian oocysts Avhen mixed with them. Both 

 chemicals tend to deliquesce, and the fa?ces mixed with them 

 remain fluid for a longer period than they otherwise would. The 

 oocysts become wrinkled and ultimately destroyed, but the con- 

 tents take longer to degenei'ate than when lime is used. 



Ferrotis sulphate. — Copperas or green vitriol is useful to some 

 extent in destroying coccidian oocysts, but like salicylates it is 

 somewhat slow in action. A dusting of feri'ous sulphate on the 

 moors would probably be useful, for the combined iron present 

 might be taken up in small quantites by grouse and, by acting as 

 a general tonic, might enable the birds to resist coccidiosis the 

 better if they became attacked. Ferrous sulphate in the pro- 

 portion of 10 grains to the gallon of drinking-water has been 

 found of service by the writer in the treatment of coccidiosis in 

 young fowls and young pheasants. Some keepers and breeders, 

 at my suggestion, have used catechu in the drinking-water with 

 success. 



Sodium nitrate. — Nitrate of soda mixed with fa-ces destroyed 

 the contents of the oilcysts after some time, but the length of time 

 required for its effective application would militate against its use 

 on a lai'ge scale. 



In mv experiments at Cambridge, three portions of infected 

 ffeces were mixed with equal quantities of lime, sodium salicylate, 

 and ferrous sulphate respectively, and were kept in open dishes, 

 exposed to the action of the weather. The results obtained may 

 be shoitly given. 



In the case of lime, the fa'ces rapidly formed a caked mass. In 

 a fortnight the oocysts were shrunken and wrinkled, and some 

 showed cracks. At the end of three weeks, the cysts Avere more 

 broken up and the contents largely tlisintegrating, wliile after a 

 lap.se of two months, there Avas a difliculty in finding spores at all. 

 Jiacteria were not found after lime treatment, and there was only 

 a slight faecal odour noticed. 



Sodium salici/lale added to fares rapidly deli(|uesced, in fact, 

 the mixture was quite li((uid in less than three hours. After a 



