Omaha daily bee., 1883-07-17
THE SCREW WORM.
Work Of The Deadly Pest IN
Kansas,
Human Being Dcvoured by the In
satiable Insect

MEDICINE Bow RANGE, June 29.-On
the plains of Texas, where countless half
wild cattle feed, and where the air is
dry and pure, lives an insect known as
the screw-worm fly. 1t is small and act
i've. This fly is the terror of the Texas
cattle. The long-horned brutes arequar
relsome. The males fight savagely some
times to the death. The females are far
tween hot-blooded Texas cattle generally
terminates in one of the animals being
severely wounded. AS the smell of the
blood drifts down the winds, which cease
lessly blow on the plains, it attracts the
screw flies, and they course through the
air, eagerly following the trail. anxious
to deposit their eggs in thewound. These
flies do not alight in depositing their
eggs, but as they fly rapidly and closely
to the injured animal, which evinces the
utmost terror when the buzz of doom
fills the air, they drop
a genlatinous substance, which
adheres to the wound. The
eggs, to the number of hundreds, are
contained in this substance. 1t is said
by the Texas cattle breeders that the
eggs hatch in twenty.four hours. Prompt
ly on Matching the worms burrow into
the flesh of the living animals. More
flies deposit their eggs. More screw
worms are Matched. They also burrow
into the flesh. A succession of crops of
screw worms follows rapidly, and the un-
fortunate animal is devoured alive, as
they honeycomb the flesh. The cattle,
unable to endure the pain, become crazy
and roam the prairies, dangerous mem
bers of bovine society, until death lays
his kind hand on them. | have been
informed by the cattle breeders who
Craze their stock on the staked plains that
the animals seem to realize the danger
they are in when wounded, and have
been known to seek safety in flight; but
that the flies follow the scent in the air
as hounds follow a fox, and the wounded
animals are generally overtaken.
On the great plains lying eastward of
the Rocky Mountains and included in the
arid belt, cattle are bred on an extensive
scale. 1t is not the custom to close herd
the stock in any portion of the range.
There is branding roundup in the spring,
a beef round up in the fall, and in Texas
a N additional roundup preparatory to the
spring drive of salable cattle to the north
ern grazing grounds. During the greater
portion of the year the cattle roam at
will. A few cowboys ride the range and
pretend to keep note of the localities
where their employers brands are feed
ing. 1t can be easily seer that under this
careless management the losses resulting
from screw worms can be quite heavy,
and still be unknown to the owner of the
brand. When cattle are found suffering
from the attacks of these worms, they, il
the tunnelling of the flesh has not pro-
crossed too far, are thrown to the ground,
and a rude and generally unsuccessful at
tempt is made to exterm!nate the para.
sites by a free use of citrine ointment.
This ointment will destroy the unhatch.
cd eggs, but its efficacy in killing the liv.
ing worms is disputed.
The screw worm is a little over half an
inch long. 1t is corrugated and exceed.
ingly hard. When put under the point
of a knife and pressed upon, the worn
slips from under the steel and flies through
the air as though made of rubber. Imag
inc a white half-inch screw having Q
pointed black head instead of the usua
slotted one. That is a fair representation
of the screw worm.
For years Texas cattle have been driv
en- to Kansas to feed on the grasses of the
plains lying in the arid belt. For year
they have been driven to the northern
portion of the Indian Territory to graz,
on the untaxed ranges of that grea
grazing land. Until last year there wa!
no trouble in Kansas from screw worms
The stories told by Texas drivers of tn,
suffering of the cattle on the southern
ranges made but little impression on tn,
men of Kansas. That these flies would
ever follow the Texas cattle up the trails
to the comparatively northern country o
Kansas, was unsupported by the mos
gloomy minded of the Kansas people
Even if suspected, they never, in tn,
most appalling flights of their dark mag
nations, thought that the flies would
change their habits, and select the nostril
of human beings to deposit their eggs in
but such is the case
1t is probable that the long-continue,
southwest winds of last summer waited
the flies from the vicinity of the herd
feeding south of Dodge City into TIN
more thickly settled portions of Kansas
At any rate, the mature flies were far cas-
of the "dead line" and far north of tn,
Arkansas river during a portion of las
summer. Several persons were attacke,
by screw worms. One of the cases tina
terminated fatally was fully reported il
the Kansas and Missouri Valley Medica
Index. 1t is worthy of note. The pa
tient had long suffered from ozena. o.
the evening of August %, 1883. this maj
complained of a tickling sensation at tn
I, base of the nose, that was promptly fol
lowed by exhaustive sneezing. This il
its turn was followed by intense pain il
the region of the eyes and cheeks. tn
physician i'll attendance mistakenly sup
posed that the pain was the result O
ozena. The discharge from the nostril
was purulent and tinged with blood, an
exceedingly offensive. The breath of tn
patient was revolving. 1t may be that hi
condition was 30 extremely offensive tina
the attending physician did not make a
|. examination that would have ~reveale,
the presence of the disturbing cause
For two days the man suffere,
intense pain. All remedies administers,
failed to give relief. On the evening O
the Gath of August there was a suddei
and profuse discharge from both the nos
trils and mouth, Instantly all pail
ceased. There was no longer any invol
untary discharge. The pus was with dif
iculty expectorated. The soft palate ha,
been destroyed, and the tongue coul,
; no longer be used in speech. When thi
stage of the disease had been reached,