234 DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED BIRDS 
The egg of the wireworm is expelled from the body in the feces 
of the bird in about three days after expulsion from the worm. Ex 
amination of feces of a number of birds has shown that one dropping 
of feces may contain from 24,000 to 600,000 eggs. A bird isolated 
under conditions preventing it from becoming reinfected has con- 
tinued to discharge worm eggs for a period of nine months without 
showing decrease in number. The limit to the time a bird will dis- 
charge eggs has not been determined. The worm eggs in fresh drop- 
pings are non-infective. If fed to an ostrich they will be passed in 
the feces so long as they are fed, but autopsy of the bird after an 
interval will show that no worms are present. 
The worm eggs hatch only outside the body of the bird and the 
larve undergo four molts before reaching maturity. Hatching 
and the development of the larve are sharply controlled by tempera- 
ture and other conditions. Ata temperature of 98° F’. ova hatch and 
the larve reach maturity. At 100° to 101° F. hatching occurs, but 
only the older larve reach maturity. The same is true of a tempera- 
ture range of 102-102.5° F. <A temperature of 104° F. does not 
permit the development of larve. Ova and larve in the first stage 
may be kept dry at room temperature for two years and develop to 
maturity when moistened. Ova and first stage larvee cease develop- 
ment when dried over calcium chloride, but remain alive for at least 
three years. Eggs retain their vitality in water but cannot reach ma- 
turity at a depth of two or three inches. The vitality of eggs is not 
destroyed by a temperature of 32° to 46° F. for three months. 
Droppings kept under natural outdoor conditions for fifteen: months 
contain live mature larve and first stage larve. 
Larve in the first stage and immature larve of the second stage 
do not develop in the stomach of the ostrich. Mature second stage 
larvee alone are capable of becoming established there. Liquid is 
undoubtedly a suitable medium for these larve and they are very 
active in such an environment. A temperature below 38° F. checks 
their movement under these conditions. When droppings and sec- 
ond stage (mature) larve are left exposed on soil where grass 
is growing, the larve crawl to the tip of the grass blades where they 
are more numerous than on the portion below. They have been ob- 
served to remain alive on green grass for six months and for two 
months more after the grass dried up although in diminished num- 
ber. On a second crop of grass, larve were observed at a height 
never exceeding three inches. From one infection of the soil larve 
were found on grass up to 14 months and at 17 months in the drop- 
