A CATTLE PARASITE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9489, 11 August 1891, Page 6

A CATTLE PARASITE.

EEPOET BY PEOPESSOE THOMAS. A few days ago, we (Auckland Herald) stated that Mr H. D. Johnson, Native interpreter, of Te Aroha, had sent to Professor Thomas some specimens of a parasite noticed by him in the stomach of an ox slaughtered there. In all probability the parasite is also in the Auckland district. Professor Thomas now sends us the following, as the result of his examination Mr H. Dunbar Johnson, of Te Aroha, has forwarded to me specimens of parasites noticed by him in the paunch of an ox, and wishes me, if the matter is of importance, to publish the information for the farming public through your columns. He states that the whole of the cellular lining was filled with a kind of maggot. The person who had killed the ox stated that he had never seen anything like these maggots in beasts until about four months ago, but that recently many had been affected. The parasites sent by Mr Johnson are not maggots, though not unlike maggots in appearance. By maggots are understood the larvce of flies, whereas these parasites are the mature forms of a kind of fluke—viz., AmpMstomum conicmn, belonging to tbe same group of worms as tbe redoubtable liver-fluke. The parasites are pear-shaped, about half an inch in length, and of a reddish-white colour. The surface is smooth and not annulated as iu maggots, as, for instance, the maggot of the bot-fly which is found in the stomach of the horse. This is the first time that I have seen this parasite in New Zealand, but it is a well-known European form, and has, no doubt, been imported from Europe, together with the other parasitic posts which attack stock in the Colony, The parasite is a distinctly objectionable one. and, as can be readily imagined, some hundreds of these leech-like parasites attacking the wall of the stomach may lead to considerable mischief. It is found in many herbivorous animals, viz., ox, sheep, goats, and various kinds of deer, &c. Mr Johnson’s description has thrown light on statements made in connection with the Tauranga sheep disease. Some six years ago a veterinary surgeon sent by the Government to Tauranga reported the discovery of hots in the stomach of sheep in that district. As hots are unknown in the stomach of sheep, it was difficult to understand what was meant. More recently it has been again stated that bots bad been found in the stomach of sheep at Tauranga, and now that AmpMstomum conicum has been found to be present rot far from the Tauranga district, there can be little doubt that the statement that bots had been found in the stomach of sheep really refers to AmpMstomum.