106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 
It is chiefly found in the gall-bladder and bite ducts, but 
occurs also in the intestine, and sometimes in blood vessels. 
In the human subject it has, in some instances, been found in 
tumors beneath the skin. In these cases it is supposed that 
the larve entered from the exterior by boring through the 
skin. 
Effects. 
The injurious effect of this parasite is best known in the 
case of sheep. In these animals it produces the fatal disease 
generally known as “ rot,”’* “ water-rot,”’ or “ fluke-rot.”” In 
severe cases of this disease there are always large numbers of 
flukes in the bile-ducts and gall-bladder,—often several dozens 
and sometimes several hundreds, or even a thousand in some > 
fatal cases. A few may exist in a sheep without causing any 
marked disease ; in proportion to the number, the symptoms 
become more marked and the disease more fatal. In some 
wet seasons, and in certain districts, these parasites have 
destroyed immense numbers of sheep. Thus in 1830-1 it is 
estimated that between one and two million sheep died of 
this disease in Great Britain. If the number was but 1,500,- 
000, it would represent a loss equal to about, $20,000,000. In 
a single year, in England, individual farmers have lost from 
300 to 800 sheep in the same way. In France, during the 
year 1812, according to Davaine, 300,000 sheep died by the 
same eause in the vicinity of Arles, and 90,000 at Nimes 
and Montpellier. In Germany, Holland, and most other 
European countries similar disastrous outbreaks of the dis- 
ease have occurred every few years, while during the most 
favorable years the aggregate annual loss is far greater than 
is generally supposed. In this country there are no reliable 
statistics by which the losses from this cause can be estimated. 
Yet there can be no doubt but that it amounts in reality to a 
large sum annually. Even those sheep that have the disease 
in a milder form and are sent to the market before they be- 
come too sick to be moved, lose very much in value, and are 
*This must not be confounded with an entirely different disease, known as 
“ foot-rot.” AF: : 
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