THE GAPE DISEASE OF FOWLS, AND THE PARASITE 

 BY WHICH IT IS CAUSED. 



MEMOIR OX A YER2IIXOUS EPIZOOTIC DISEASE OF TTTE PTTEASAXTRIES* AND OX 

 THE J' A HA SITE WHICH CAUSES IT, THE SYXGA2IUS TRACHEA IAS (SI EE.), SCLER- 

 OSTOMA SYXGA21US (DIES.), BY 21. I'. 2IE(rXI.\. LAUREATE OF THE INSTITUTE 

 UCADE2IIE DES SCIEXCES), 21E21HER OF THE SOClfYTf] DE BIOEOGIE. HONORARY 

 ASSOCIATE OF THE liOYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE OF LOXDOX, ETC. 



[Translated by Dr. Theobald Smith.] 



For several years past the pheasant ries of the hunting forests of 

 France have been ravaged by a most destructive malady, which has 

 killed the fowls by the hundreds and even thousands. The cause is a 

 parasite, a so-called red worm, which develops in the trachea of birds 

 and finally suffocates them. Particularly the young subjects, from six 

 weeks to three months of age, are apt to be the victims, although adults 

 by no means are always spared. The chief symptoms of this alfection 

 are a suppressed or aborted cough and a characteristic gaping, whence 

 is derived the English name " gapes." It appears to have been ob- 

 served long ago in England and America, whilst with us it has not- yet 

 been studied, a fact which seems to indicate that it has been introduced 

 from England, and that we owe its introduction to commerce by which 

 the hunting grounds have been restocked. 



I investigated this disease on the site of its activity in the inclosures of 

 the forest of Fontainebleau in 1878 and 1879. I received many cadavers 

 killed by the red worm from different localities of central and northern 

 France ; from the poultry -yard of Baron Rothschild , at RambouiUet, where 

 the daily losses amounted to 1,200 ; from M. de Jnnze, of Gournay ; from 

 the duchess de la Rochefoucault, at Afontmirail $ from the inclosures 

 at Chauteau-neuf, and from various localities of Loire! and de FIndre. 

 Finally" a dispatch, in October, 18S0, informed me that the epidemic 

 had appeared in the royal pheasantries at Turin, and was threatening 

 to do much mischief. 



This disease is not at present raging on the continent only. For ten 

 years it has been the cause of severe losses in England. Dr. Crisp 

 estimates that the red worm destroys annually half a million chickens, 

 excluding pheasants and partridges, so that he says it would be of 

 truly national importance to find the means of preventing the invasion 

 of this red worm or of destroying it.* Furthermore, the following- 

 statement is taken from the report of the meeting of the Loudon Ento- 

 mological Society, October 1, 1879 : 



The president announced that Lord Walsingham, in conjunction with other gentle- 

 men, had placed at the disposal of the council the sum of £100 to be awarded in two 

 prizes of £50 each for the following subjects : 



1. The best and most complete life history of Sclerosioma syngamus, supposed to 

 produce the so-called gapes in poultry, game, and other birds. 



* This monograph, finished November, 1830, has reference to the epidemics in the 

 pheasantries of France. 



2G'J 



