GAPES, gaps (from gape, Icel. gapa, a yawn). A disease of poultry, due to the presence of a round gapeworm ( Syngamus trachealis) of near ly universal distribution, found in the trachea of gallinaceous birds. Infested birds assume a char acteristic drooping attitude in walking or stand ing, are attacked by frequent fits of coughing, and rapidly become emaciated. Many experi ments seem to show that the earthworm is the intermediate host of the gapeworm, which gains entrance to the fowls when earthworms para sitized by gapeworms are eaten. On the other hand, some investigators deny any such inter relation. A favorite remedy is turpentine ap plied with a feather inside the windpipe. Inter nal doses of asafetida, garlic, or turpentine sometimes give good results. The most effective and convenient method is to make the fowls breathe the dust of air-slaked lime. This irri tates the mucous membrane of the respiratory passages and produces violent coughing, during which the gapeworms, already affected by the lime, are thrown out. During the operation the fowls should be in a box or coop. Infested soil should be treated with a strong solution of com mon salt before the fowls are allowed to run upon it. Such treatment would probably kill the gapeworms.
GAR (from AS. gar, spear). The name of two different sorts of fishes having an external similarity, namely: (1) the marine garfishes, needle-fishes, etc., of the teleost family Esocithe; and (2) the fresh-water gar-pikes or billfishes of the ganoid family Lepidosteidx.
(1) The gars of the family Esocidoe are round slender fishes, sometimes five feet long, and hav ing the jaws prolonged into a stout bill, and studded with sharp teeth; they are found in all warm seas, and are classified in four genera with about fifty species. They are voracious carniv orous fishes and powerful surface swimmers, pursuing the fleet flying fish and similar small gregarious prey, and often leaping high out of the water in their eagerness. The best-known species is the Old World garfish (Belone vul garish or greenbone, congeners of which dwell in the South Pacific and along the Asiatic coast; a prominent Oriental species is the great Belone gigantea, illustrated on the Colored Plate of PHILIPPINE FISHES. This genus is character ized by the presence of fin-rakers. On the tropi
cal American coasts occur many species of the genus Tylosurus, popularly known as needle fishes, spearfishes, longjaws, agujones, hound fishes, etc. One of these (Tylosurus nzarinus) is common as far north as Cape Cod, often, like the others, ascending rivers to spawn. They are par ticularly numerous about the West Indies and in the Gulf of Mexico, and annoy the fishermen by tearing their nets. See AouJA, and Plate of NEEDLE-FISH.
(2) The fresh-water gars, billfishes, bony pikes, or pikes, form a family of ganoid fishes (Lepidos teithe ) , the only living representatives of the order Rhomboganoidea, which was rich in forms in ear lier geological times. (See GANOIDEL ) They have an elongated nearly cylindrical body, covered with a bony case of rhomboidal scales. The head, -whose external bones are very hard and rugose, terminates in a long beak-like snout, with nos trils near the end of the upper jaw; and the jaws are set with several series of sharp recurved teeth. The dorsal fin is set well back, above the anal fin. There is a single genus, Lepidosteus, comprising five species, inhabiting the lakes and rivers of North America and China, some of which arc very numerous in individuals. The most familiar species is the common billfish or gar-pike of the United States (Lepidosteus osseus), which under favorable conditions be comes five feet long, and is numerously found in lakes and rivers from Vermont to Texas. It lives by preying upon other fishes, and is not itself good for food. It is nocturnal in its activities, and in early summer seeks shallow places in whieh to lay its eggs, which are glutinous and adhere to the first object they come in contact with. When the fry hatches from the egg it has a row of suckers above a very large mouth with which it clings to submerged stones. The short nosed gar (Lepidosteus platostomus) is smaller and has a shorter bill; it has a northerly range. The great or alligator gar, or manjuari (Lepi dosteus tristtechus), belongs to the Southern States, Cuba, and Mexico, and sometimes reaches sixteen feet in length. A fourth species inhabits the west-coast streams of Central America, and a fifth is found in China. Compare BICIIIR.