66 STRONGYLID^ OR PALISADE- WORMS. 



exit, and live for some time free in the intestinal contents, 

 where they breed, the ova coming away in the horse's excreta. 

 The red species is by far the most abundant. They are mainly 

 observed in young horses. From investigations during the 

 past two years, it seems that these pests are much on the 

 increase. Fortunately they can be soon checked by the 

 administration of Thymol as a nematocide.-' 



The Gape Worm (Syngamus traeheaUs). 



Poultry, especially if constantly kept on the same land, often 

 suffer considerable loss from the ravages of a red worm called 

 the "Gape Worm" or "Forked "Worm." This nematode lives 

 in the air-passages of fowls, chicks, pheasants, and certain wild 

 birds. On opening the trachea and bronchi of a bird showing 

 symptoms of this disease, we find often as many as twenty red 



Fig. 24i— Gape Worm (Syngamus tradhmlis), 

 i and 9 in CO] 



forked worms surrounded by a frothy saliva. The small arm 

 of the fork is the male, which remains almost permanently 

 attached to the female. The former is about one-fifth of an 

 inch long, the latter about four-fifths. They are coughed up by 

 the fowls when they are mature — that is, when full of ova. The 

 eggs escape from the body by its cadaveric decay and lie about 

 upon the ground and in the water, from whence other birds 



^ Journal of the S.-E. Agric. Coll., part 6 — "An Epizooty produced by 

 species of Sclerostomwm in Arab Horses," by F. V. T. 



