120 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



diseased pigeon in twenty -four hours, Unterberger 

 found on an average 12,000 of these eggs. Some of 

 these eggs were placed on damp blotting paper in a 

 flask and their evolution studied. The embryos were 

 well formed in about 17 days. These ova were then 

 given to perfectly healthy pigeons, when they were, 

 in about three weeks, transformed into adult worms. 

 When, on the other hand, healthy pigeons were given 

 theova immediately after their expulsion with the faeces, 

 or their discharge from the oviducts, they did not de- 

 velop, and were passed with the excrements intact or 

 slightly digested. The evolution of the parasite, 

 therefore, can only take place beyond the intestine, 

 withovut the necessity, however, of an intermediate 

 /host.- Infestation takes place from pigeon to pigeon, 

 through the medium of the food soiled by the excre- 

 ments of the diseased birds. 



Treatment. — Parasitic infestation of the digestive 

 tract should be guarded against by hygienic measures 

 so far as possible, One of the most important of these 

 measures is to move the fowls upon fresh ground every 

 two or three years, or certainly in all cases where such 

 parasites are frequently observed in the intestines of 

 the birds. Another practical measure, which may be 

 adopted at the same time, is to remove the excrement 

 daily from the houses and destroy any parasites or 

 their eggs which may be in it, by mixing it with quick 

 lime or saturating it with a ten -per -cent solution of 

 sulphuric acid. The acid is cheap, but requires that 

 great care be taken in diluting it, owing to danger of 

 its splashing upon the clothing and flesh and causing 

 severe burns. It should always be poured slowly into 

 the water used for dilution, but on no account should 



