Wellington Pliilosopliical Socieli/. 531 



2. "On Eabbit-disease in the South Wairarapa," by 

 Colemau PhiHips. {Transactions, p. 308.) 



The President, in inviting discussion, remarked that he did not 

 understand why the author should complain of it as selfish to make use 

 of the rabbit-proof fence if it formed a protection against the pest. He 

 would like also to know what Mr. Phillips meant by a " minimum-of- 

 safety stage." 



]\Ir. Travers said that the spread of the disease referred to could 

 only be successful when a proper " host " was provided. He favoured the 

 introduction of the natural enemy ; but the ferret was not well understood 

 — -it was a delicate creature, and numbers died in the winter from cold. 

 Proper breeding-establishments should be erected, and this would be 

 better than importing the animals. 



Sir James Hector said, as lie had been referred to by the author of 

 the paper, he ventured to express an opinion that the only effectual way 

 of dealing with tlie rabbit-plague was by following Nature ; but he had 

 not much faith in some so-called natural enemies, unless it could be 

 shown that they would be able to destroy by communicating disease. 

 Many years ago he had called the attention of Government to the sudden 

 and periodical disappearance of rabbits from the north-west territory of 

 Canada, speaking from his own experience. Government had obtained 

 ample evidence confirming this important fact, but up to the present 

 time the nature of the disease had not been ascertained. It was evi- 

 dently related in some way to the carnivorous animals that prey on the 

 rabbits. His own recollection of the symptoms favoured the idea that it 

 in some way resulted from the direct or indirect action of Kntozoa. He 

 had therefore suggested that the bladder-worm and liver-fluke of the 

 rabbit might be a modified form of the same disease. It was certainly 

 not the same so far as its virulence went ; but the question was, whether 

 these bladder-worms might not under peculiar conditions become the 

 carriers of microbes that set up a more active specific disease, either like 

 chicken-cholera, or perhaps a putrid fever which becomes contagious. 

 Anyhow, it was not enough merely to say what this disease was not. The 

 great importance of the subject to these colonies required that the nature 

 and cause of this disease should be found out ; and unless good reason 

 could be shown that it would endanger other forms of life, of which there 

 was no evidence as yet, then let it be introduced ; and, if it worked as the 

 speaker had seen it do in Western Canada, the difficulty would be at an 

 end. Perhaps it might be done by bringing some of the rabbits from the 

 affected districts and turning them out liere. It was obvious that any 

 cause that would prevent the does from breeding was what must be aimed 

 at. Speaking of the various natural enemies. Sir James said he had some 

 years ago suggested that the black ferret of the American prairies should 

 be introduced, as it was a fierce hunter, and, being a perfectly wild animal, 

 would probably be more hard}' than the English ferret. 



Mr. Field said, — I have listened with great pleasure to Mr. Phillips's 

 paper and Sir James Hector's remarks, because they seem to me to throw 

 light on what has long been a great puzzle to myself and others — viz., the 

 reason why rabbits will not thrive between the Tararua Range and New 

 Plymouth, nor, apparently, from there northward. They have been re- 

 peatedly turned loose, but have never become troublesome, and generally 

 have died out in a few years without apparent cause. I may mention 

 the following cases within my own knowledge : I first saw rabbits running 

 wild in New Zealand at Taranaki, in September, 1851. There were then 

 a good many near the Grey Institution, and thence to Omata. I learned, 

 in 1886, that they had been extinct there so long tiiat only a few old 

 settlers seemed to recollect them. I saw many rabbits a few weeks later 

 between the ^Manawatu and Rangitikei Rivers, where they had been 



