71 



The life-history of the fluke is a very extraordinary one. It is hermaphroditic 

 When sexually mature it passes from the liver of the sheep, and escapes through the 

 intestinal canal to the open pasture land, where it deposits its thousands of eggs. By 

 various agencies, and especially in wet weather, these eggs are carried into pools, ditches 

 running streams, etc. From the moistened egg a ciliated embryo, or proscolex, escapes. 

 This swims about for a while till it comes upon the soft body of some water-snail or insect 

 and to this it fastens itself, After a time it casts away its ciliated covering and pene- 

 trates the body of the creature to which it attached itself. When favourably placed, it 

 rapidly develops into what is called the " nurse " or Sporocyst, and produces young called 

 Cercarios. These cercarise migrate, swim about in the water, or wander into the moist 

 pastures. From thence they are taken, either in food or drink, into the digestive organs 

 of sheep, cattle, and (sometimes) human beings. From the digestive organs of their 

 x< host " they bore their way to the liver, in which they become encysted, and remain for 

 a length of time. At length, having attained a higher organization, they burse from their 

 enclosures, and become converted into the perfect Fasciola hepatica. 



The preventives against the fluke that have been suggested are, the confining of the 

 sheep to the high pasture-lands that they naturally prefer, frequent salting, keeping the 

 stock in good condition by the use of cut turnips, oil-cake, etc. Well fed, healthy stock 

 seem as a rule to be less open to the attacks of parasites of every kind, than weak and 

 sickly ones. 



SCLEROSTOMA SYNGAMUS. 



This parasite is the cause of the " gapes " in poultry. It is a small red worm of the 

 thickness of a common pin. The females are half or three-quarters of an inch long : the 

 males are smaller. They infest the wind-pipe of the fowl and cause suffocation. Poultry 

 troubled with them gape, sneeze, and gasp for breath. To relieve them, strip a feather 

 to near the end, dip this in salt-and-water, then slip it dexterously into the wind-pipe 

 of the fowl, twist it around once or twice and suddenly withdraw it. This will dislodge 

 and bring away the worms. It is said that a loop of gut such as is used in fishing-lines may 

 be used effectively for the same purpose. The poultry-house should be frequently and 

 thoroughly cleaned. Wood and coal-ashes should be spread over the floor and occasionally 

 a little carbolic acid should be sprinkled upon it. A little flour of brimstone and ground 

 ginger mixed now and then with warm meal, and fed to the fowls, would be beneficial. 



BEE-MOTHS. 



REV. THOMAS W. PYLES, SOUTH QUEBEC. 



The Honey-Bee (Aiiis mellifica), is not an indigene of America. It was imported 

 by the early colonists ; and it soon spread and multiplied exceedingly — the forests 

 surrounding the early settlements affording both sufficient harbourage and abundant food 

 for the ever multiplying swarms. 



By the Indians the bee was called the White Man's Fly. 



" Wheresoe'er they move, before them 

 Swarms the stinging fly the Ahmo, 

 Swarms the bee, the honey -maker." 



{Song of Hiawatha, ch. xxi.) 



"It is surprising in what countless swarms the bees have overspread the far West 

 ■within but a moderate number of years. The Indians consider them the harbingers of 

 the white man, as the buffalo is of the red man, and say that in proportion as the bee 

 advances, the Indian and the buffalo retire." (Washington Irving ; Tour on the 

 Prairies, ch. ix.) 



