The Rice belt journal., 1909-10-22
GR0IGE GREk71TG 5NNQlsE oNZ4E No1Qs

worm, Irlchn0StrOnsyluS graciliS, IS
regarded by Dr.. A. T. Shipley, F. r.
! S., who is the chief authority in the
| present band of investigators, as the
! real offender, and he has made Yalu-
! able contributions to the knowledge
, Of its life history. Although great
caution is displayed by DR.. Shipley in
giving any statement as final it seems
! fairly we'll established that owing to
| some earlier cause which reduces the
! birds vitality and powers Of resist
! ance, these parasites are able to de-
| velOp to such an abnormal extent
that the bird succumbs to their at
tacks. In some instances the grouse
appear to recover. but as Mr.. f. A.
Wilson, the field naturalist to the
committee, points out, some Of the
early symptoms of grouse disease
might be confounded with those OF
moulting.
This brings us to the predisposing
| causes which make a grouse unable
to resist the chronic wasting form Of
! illness. Is it possible that Prof. Klein
was right and that a form of pneu-
m0nia exists among the birds, which,
even if it does not carry them off, pre-
! disposes them to injury from the
| wasting form of the disease9 1t can
| not be said that in the interim reports
| of the committee Of inquiry any great
| leaning to this view is to be discov-
cred. During 1905, 1906 and 1907 the
very large number of field observers.
amounting to several hundreds, asso-
ciated with the committee did not de-
! tect one instance of the acute pneu-
monic form of the disease, and Mr.
Wilson has observed that some of the
symptoms relied on by Prof Klein in
| his published monograph are not con-
| elusive evidence of its existence. 1t
seems, therefore, that the committee
are rather reluctant on the one hand
| to admit kleinS grouse-pneumonia
and yet are at loss to explain why
otherwise it is that the birds become
susceptible to the wasting sickness,
Within the last few days the Zoo
logical society of London has issued
a series of papers by DR.. A. E. Ship
! ley on the parasitic organisms Of
which the grouse is host. In these
papers the value to be attached to DR..
| Cobbolds early observations is fully
apparent. The larvae of the thread
worms which prey upon the red
grouse exist in abundance in every
square foot of heather, and no doubt
| is felt that under certain conditions
at present undetermined-the lar
vac reach the two important organs
of the bird, the lungs and the liver.
Referring to the extreme difficulty, in
consequence of their microscopic di-
mensions, of finding the ova upon the
heather either on the stalks or in the
buds Thought they exist in countless
thousands), DR.. Shipley mentions a
new and peculiarly successful method
of examination, which he hit upon in
the autumn of last year, whilst visit
ing at Beaufort castle. A handful of
heather placed in bottle is soaked
in a little water for some hours; ulti-
mately the sediment after suitable
treatment is examined microscopical-
ly for larvae, and that with unvarying
wealth of material. 1t is stated that
the exact relations of the grouse-fy
(Ornithomyia lagopodis) to the grouse
is not known. 1t is, however, believed
to suck it's blood, and it will certainly
bite human beings. The fly is proVid,
ed with a pair of great hooks on its
feet. and altogether this insect has a
decidedly sinister aspect. 1t occurs
freely in larders where freshly killed
grouse have been placed.