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Although avian spirochetosis has been endemic in many parts of the world for several decades, it has only recently been positively identified in North America (Hoffman, Jackson, and Rucker, 1946; Hoffman and Jackson, 1946). Ward and Gallagher (1920) and Kaupp (1922) stated that some workers have suspected its presence in the United States, but no positive diagnoses wN-ere made. Burroughs (1947) reported the first finding of this spirochete in ticks in the United States w^hen he discovered that specimens of Argas persicus sent to him from Texas wvere infected. The disease is caused by Borrelia anserina (Spirochaeta anserina), which was first described from geese in the Caucasus by Sakharoff in 1891. Marchoux and Salimbeni (1903) in Brazil were the first to report a natural outbreak in fowls and also to incriminate Argas persicus as the arthropod vector. Since then it has been reported as a major cause of mortality in fowl in many parts of the wi-orld. Recent reviews of the literature are given by Knowles, Das Gupta, and Basu (1932), Reis and Nobrega (1936), Sreenivasan and Sankaranarayan (1945), and El-Dardiry (1945). Knowles, Das Gupta, and Basu (1932) give an excellent review\ of 180 papers covering the period of 1891-1931. Stavitsky (1948) gives a good general discussion of the three genera of pathogenic spirochetes. Since the disease has only recently been reported in this country, and since there are only casual references in the literature to its natural occurrence in turkeys previous to the accounts of Hoffman et al. (1946), it seemed advisable to conduct experiments with this strain in turkeys. This paper reports the results of these experiments as wN-ell as a historical discussion of the disease and studies on a second field outbreak in turkeys. DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISM Sakharoff (1891) first described the organism from the blood of geese suffering from a severe febrile disease in the Caucasus. His original description includes a photomicrograph wrhich shows about six spirals, but does not give measurements of length. Reports in the literature of the length have varied from 6 to 30 A, and there is wide variation in the same bird, due to division stages. Hinshawv and McNeil (1946) reported an average of 14,u (7 to 21,) with six spirals (figuire 1). The organism is motile, stains readily with aniline dyes (in contrast to Leptospira and Treponema), and is soluble in 10 per cent ox bile and 10 per cent saponin. At crisis the spirochetes are in large clumps and are often granu-1 Aided inl part by a research grant froiim The National Turkey Foundation.

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VITAMIN-A DEFICIENCY IN TURKEYS l w. R. HINSHAW2 AND W. E. I.JLOYDs LOSSES FROM OBSCURE CAUSES on certain California turkey ranges, where green feed is limited during much of the growing season, suggested the need for studies on vitamin-A deficiency in turkeys. The experiments reported herein were outlined to determine the possible relation of A-avitaminosis 4 to turkey mortality and to obtain information concerning the effect on turkeys of various vitamin-A levels. A-avitaminosis in chickens has been fully described by Beach(1), Emmett and Peacock?", Seifried(10), Elvehjem and Neu (4), and many other investigators, so that the pathological changes in chickens are well established. Chicks were included in one experiment as a control on the methods used and as a basis for comparing A-avitaminosis in the two species. Scott and Hughes':", using yellow corn as the source of vitamin A, showed that turkeys required more vitamin A than did chickens. This paper is concerned chiefly with the disease phases of the problem. Because published data on the vitamin-A requirements of turkeys are limited, the results on the comparative value of dehydrated alfalfa-leaf meal for turkeys and chickens are also included. Certain vitamin-A liver storage data collected in connection with the experiments have already been published by Guilbert and Hinshaw.

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