The Occurrence of Aspergillosis in the Ostrich in South Africa. 203 
by various methods, e.g., giemsa, hsemotoxylin and eosin, weigert, and 
by Mallory's method. 
The former was found to give the best results. Liver sections : With 
the 8-mm. objective and 4 ocular, a number of mycelial filaments varying 
in length, and numerous disseminated nodules are visible, the latter can 
be detected with the naked eye. 
With the l/12th oil immersion and 4 ocular, the filaments (which are 
found to be, in some instances, branched) show clear round spaces which 
give them a beaded appearance. The reaction on the part of the tissues 
manifests itself in small groups of epitheloid cells and in the formation of 
nodules. The latter are usually well defined from the surrounding tissue, 
they are made up of a collection of epitheloid cells amongst which eosino- 
phile cells are sometimes seen. In some of the nodules short filaments 
are visible, others appear to be completely free of them. In sections of 
lungs the nodules have the same appearances. 
In sections made from the lung of an adult ostrich (subacute case) the 
cells composing the nodules were found on microscopical examination to 
have undergone degeneration and to have lost their staining affinity. The 
nodules were frequently found to have at their outer margin a zone of 
connective tissue corpuscles, and fibres. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
Aspergillosis occurs in the ostrich in South Africa. 
In cases of natural infection in adult birds the disease may run a sub- 
acute course with symptoms of emaciation. 
Infection is transmissible to young chicks by intravenous inoculation, 
ingestion, and inhalation of spores, by introduction of spores direct into 
the trachea, by inoculation of the buccal mucous membrane ; and in 
one experiment a perfectly healthy chick which was kept for three or four 
days in contact with a chick which had been the subject of an ingestion 
experiment, died and on post-mortem was found to be affected. The 
disease runs an acute course and is fatal. 
Inoculation of medium (potato) with portions of affected organs, and 
with portion of contents of vermiform appendices and large intestines 
collected from chicks in ingestion experiments resulted in recovery of 
the fungus. 
The inoculation of potato medium with portions of affected organs 
serves as a simple method of diagnosis. 
The most constant seat of lesions in experimentally produced cases 
was found to be in the lungs. 
The lesions consist of tubercle-like formations in the affected organ. 
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