hydatid that caused the disease “sturdy” or “gid” in sheep, and quoted Dr. Cobbold to that effect. That the disease “sturdy” in sheep did prevail in the Wairarapa he was convinced, from inquiries he had made among sheep-owners in that district; though in nearly all cases, from a want of knowledge of the subject, it had not been identified as “sturdy,” but mistaken for “ergot”-poisoning. As a matter of fact, ergot, he said, had little or no action on sheep except during the period of gestation; but in healthy ruminants, when obtained or administered continuously for a considerable period; it would most likely cause sloughing of the hoofs; this, with the exception of general falling-off in condition, being usually the first observable symptom of ergot-poisoning. All the symptoms that had been described to him as due to ergot-poisoning were, as a matter of fact, identical with the symptoms of “sturdy.” Again, as a rabbit-destructor, how did the disease act? In the rabbit we find the hydatid lodged in the connective tissue of the skin and muscles; it grows to the size, perhaps, of an orange, and is said to displace the vital organs to such an extent as to cause death. But this is a very slow process: it takes weeks for the hydatid to grow to even an appreciable size, and does not during this period interfere with the reproductive powers of the rabbit; and when it has grown to a size sufficiently large to cause the displacement of a vital organ, this is not sufficient to cause death. We all know how even men can and do live with their vital organs in all sorts of strange positions, and bunny does not seem less able to do so; in fact, this displacement in the rabbit being so very gradual gives nature a chance of accommodating itself to its altered circumstances. He said he would be inclined to attribute the improvement in the rabbit-pest in the Wairarapa to the shooting, poisoning, and turning-out of the rabbit's natural enemies, which Mr. Coleman Phillips said had taken place, though he would certainly grant that rabbit-fluke, existing as widely as Mr. Phillips had represented it, would necessarily cause a certain mortality; but he believed this mortality would be extremely small, considering the nature of the pest we have to deal with, and urged that the disease had been propagated at far too great a risk to the sheep in the district.

Mr. Coleman Phillips, in reply to Mr. McClean, remarked that he did not believe at all that the bladder-worm of the rabbit gave the sheep in the Wairarapa sturdy, or gid. There were not many cases of sturdy, or gid, in the colony. It was a rare complaint amongst sheep, but in the Wairarapa a few sheep had become apparently sturdied from eating ergot. Mr. McClean said the runholders were wrong in thinking that ergot was the cause of this; but Mr. Phillips thought that the runholders were right. He, however, desired to thank Mr. McClean for calling attention to the matter, as he was equally desirous of and interested in keeping diseases away from sheep. Professor Thomas had quoted from Rose in his report, and that gentleman drew from that authority a conclusion quite different from that of Mr. McClean. Bladdery rabbits were not harmful to sheep; and as to human beings, the Norfolk warreners have been in the habit for years past of pricking the bladders, and then sending the rabbits to market in the ordinary way. There were very few cases of hydatid heard of in England, where bladdery rabbits must often be eaten.