434 Tra nsactions . — Miscellaneous. 



the check, which rapidly spreads by means of the host. In 

 the sheep we see it when we say that the land becomes sheep- 

 sick. Upon such lands the hoggets get the lung- worm, and 

 die off. So that, supposing we tried our best to keep but one 

 animal running constantly upon one set of lands, the end 

 would be that that animal would dwindle down to very few 

 indeed. In the case of the rabbit its own intestinal worms or 

 the intestinal worms of the natural enemy are always ready to 

 infect the lauds and guard those lands against entire occupation. 

 And so determined is nature to do this that away up in the 

 arctic regions, where the rabbit, jack-rabbit, and hare can go 

 in comfort, being fun-ed animals, there is it followed by the 

 stoat changed into an ermine. The stoat puts on a warmer 

 coat, and follows the rabbit even to tlie poles. For that 

 reason stoats are alone to be relied upon by our Government 

 here for suppressing the plague in the high snowy lands of the 

 South Island. 



Now let us look at the atlas, and see the position of Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand. What is it ? Disconnection from 

 the four great continents. Here there were neither rabbits 

 nor any natural enemy (I allude to the end of the secondary 

 period in geology, when Australia is supposed to have been 

 separated from the mainland). The land was clean from 

 either. Lately we have brought the rabbit, and, finding no 

 check either against itself or against it as a pest, it rapidly 

 developed into the pest form. Neither ferret, stoat, weasel, 

 fox, nor wolf was here to infect the lands with the tape- 

 worm eggs, and so the rabbit throve and multiplied. The 

 dog alone was here, and in the Wairarapa the dog appears 

 to have carried out nature's law of check. My accidentally 

 giving the dogs areca-nut but assisted nature's law. 



Of course, I do not say that the tape-worm I use is the 

 worst form of tape-worm. There are two hundred and fifty 

 different kinds of tape-worm, and I have no doubt that the 

 tape-worm of the fox and wolf is a far more virulent disease 

 than the tape-worm of the dog. But then I do not like to 

 introduce such animals into Australasia, amongst our sheep. 

 The Hon. Kandall Johnson tells me that a proposition comes 

 from Africa for us to use here the civet-cat and the meer-kat. 

 (The civet-cat is closely allied to the aard-wolf.) But, again, I 

 say that I do not like introducing here more ground-vermin 

 than are absolutely necessary. I find that I have succeeded 

 with the dog, cat, ferret, stoat, and weasel. What necessity 

 is there to introduce anything further yet awhile ? I feel 

 almost sure that these animals will perform the work for 

 Australasia. At any rate they should be tried before intro- 

 ducing any of the other animals. We never know how the 

 ferce naturce develope in these new lands. These require their 



