THE MORE COMMON AILMENTS OF SHEEP 39I 



common in this country. It is a small creature about 1-25 

 of an inch in length, with white body and a reddish head. 

 It is found more commonly on poorly sheep and in places 

 where the wool is not plentiful, as between the legs and 

 body. The eggs are laid at the base of the wool fibers. 

 When numerously present their bite leads to a roughened 

 scabby skin, which induces discomfort, shown by the at- 

 tempt to scratch and bite the affected parts. The remedy 

 is the same as for ticks (see Chapter XXI). 



Parasites that prey internally on sheep — The more 

 harmful of these are : The stomach worm, tapeworm, lung 

 worm, the worm that is associated with nodule disease 

 and grub in the head. These do not include nearly all the 

 parasites of this class, but those not included seldom lead 

 to serious loss in the flocks. 



The stomach worm (Haemouchus contortus) leads to 

 greater loss in the flock, and mainly through the loss of 

 lambs, than any other ailment that affects the sheep of 

 this continent. It is a small hairlike worm that inhabits 

 the fourth stomach of sheep and goats. When present 

 they may be found in all stages of growth in the same. 

 Immediately after the slaughter of an infested lamb they 

 may be found adhering by their heads to the mucous 

 membrane, and oftentimes in immense numbers. At such 

 a time they are of a reddish color. This may result in 

 part at least from their feeding on the blood of the vic- 

 tim. This parasite has doubtless been brought from the 

 Old World. It has long been more or less prevalent in 

 the southwestern states and territories, where it was 

 called lombriz, a corruption of the Spanish word lombrici, 

 which means worms. It now gives more or less trouble 

 in all or nearly all the states of the Union and the prov- 

 inces of Canada. 



It is not always easy to distinguish between the 

 symptoms present resulting from stomach worms as com- 

 pared with those resulting from the presence of some 

 other parasites. Prominent among these, however, are 



