CHAPTER XVI 
INTERNAL PARASITES 
PARASITES OF THE ESOPHAGUS, CROP, PROVENTRICULUS AND GIZZARD 
FOWLS 
Dispharagus nasutus, a filarial worm 7 to 9 mm. long, is one of 
the most important parasites occurring in the portion of the ali- 
mentary tract of fowls anterior to the gizzard. The worms are 
found in great numbers in the mucosa of the proventriculus and of 
the gizzard. The affected birds become emaciated and depressed 
without losing appetite. The mucosa of the gizzard has been ob- 
served to be bristling with the parasites, some in the mucosa and 
others attached to the mucosa by one end and floating free in the 
lumen. The proventriculus when infested may be increased to 
double the usual size, becoming spherical in form. The mucosa is 
greatly thickened in places where the parasites are most numerous. 
Cases have been observed in which the worms were so numerous as 
Fic. 19. Spiroptera pectinifera. Male. Caudal extremity. 175. Neumann) 
to give the glands a villous appearance. Colucci obtained good re- 
sults by the administration of capsules of .5 gram of oil of turpentine 
morning and evening. 
D. hamulosus has been reported from fowls in Brazil as occurring 
in little fleshy excrescences on the surface of the gizzard. D. laticeps 
has been found in the fowl and certain rapacious birds. Physa- 
loptera truncata has been observed in the gizzard of a fowl in Brazil. 
Spiroptera pectnifera is a hair worm which infests the gizzard of 
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