■246 PAEASITIC DISEASES OP THE SKIN. 



been thoroughly dipped before shipping and then loaded on clean 

 and disinfected railroad cars, this trouble would have been 

 averted to a great extent, and one more dipping on their arrival 

 at the feed yards would have been all that was necessary to carry 

 them through till spring. 



The mite catising common scab can easily be found at the 

 edges of the scabs, and can be studied by means of a low powor 

 microscope, and so numerous are these parasites that one slide 

 will often reveal the adult mites, the six-legged young and many 

 eggs. Fall and winter are the seasons most favorable for the 

 spread of this disease, owing to the animals being congregated 

 together under sheds or in feeding lots, and the fleece at those 

 seasons being long, facilitates the propagation and vitality of the 

 parasites. In summer the change from dry food to green grass 

 appears to effect a certain influence antagnostic to the spread of 

 the scab, especially is this so after spring shearing. Scab if not 

 treated will eventually cause extreme debility and perhaps death, 

 owing to impoverishment of the blood and fatigue from loss 

 of rest and sleep, caused by the intense itching due to the pres- 

 ence of these pests. Where breeding ewes become affected with 

 scabies, there is great danger of abortion, and should this not 

 occur, the newly born lamb will be weak and feeble, predisposed 

 to sickness, and very hard to rear. Ewes not in lamb will sel- 

 dom conceive when affected with this disease, and when this 

 fact is taken into consideration, together with the depreciation 

 of the value of the wool clip, from double ended wool, and a 

 light fleece, it will readily be understood that the damages to 

 flock owners from this disease which is spread so universally 

 over the country, especially in th e "Western States, is enormous, 

 and that without exaggeration it must amount to several millions 

 of dollars yearly. 



