10 
W. L. WILLIAMS. 
The parasite was described by Zundel * in 1864, one of 
whose clients had for a time been annoyed by a serious mortal¬ 
ity among his fowls, losing two or three daily, and finally asked 
Z. to determine the cause of death. 
The affected birds showed no very marked symptoms of any 
eommon ailment, eontinued to eat, but beearne very weak, 
voiceless, their wings drooping and their combs and wattles dis¬ 
colored and pale as a result of ansemia. Post-mortem examina¬ 
tion showed moderate emaciation. The intestines were of a 
rose color, with great engorgement of the mesenteric vessels, 
while the intestinal mueous membrane was dark red, the intes¬ 
tine mueh thickened and contained a large quantity of thick, 
slimy mucous. Large quantities of the parasites were found 
free upon the walls of the air saes within the abdomen, and, no 
other cause presenting itself to explain the fatal lesions, they 
were ascribed to the mites. 
Megninf in 1879 gave an exeellent technical description of 
the parasite, failing to attach that importance to its presence in 
the bodies of fowls attributed to it by Gerlach and Zundel. 
THE CYTODITES NUDUS OR CYTOLEICHUS SARCOPTOIDES 
is more elosely allied in its anatomical characters to the 
sarcoptes than to the other classes of acarina. It has for 
its chief eharaeters a large orbicular body, convex above, 
the convexity being more abrupt from side to side than antero- 
posteriorly, giving it a tortoise-like shape ; flat below, extended 
in front by a movable rostrum, which can be largely retraeted. 
It has a translucent body, varying in eolor and transpareney by 
exposure to light and media in whieh it is studied. Taken 
fresh from its normal habitat, and examined under low magni¬ 
fication, the body seems almost wholly colorless, while the body 
eontents appear as masses of pale lemon-colored oil-like drop¬ 
lets. The skeleton is ehitinous, smooth and glabrous without 
visible markings on the dorsal surfaee except six pairs of small 
* Zundel, La Phthriasis Interne. Jo^lr. de Med. Veterinaire, Dec., 1864. 
f Megnin, Les Acariens parasites du tissu cellulaire et des reservoires ariens chez 
I’oiseau. Jour, de L' Anatonde et de La Physiologie, 1879, p. 123. 
