Jan. 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 15 



smell and its lachrymatory effect would frighten the animals out of the 

 buri'ow before the}' had breathed sufficient to cause death. If the action of 

 dichlorethyl svilphide were not so insidious, and, therefore, so dangerous to 

 those using it, it might be worth trying in buri'ows. The simplest way would 

 be to throw a pint into the entrances of a buirow, when the animals would 

 carry it to all parts on their feet and fur. Anybody handling the rabbits or 

 the soil at the entrance of the burrow up to fivf or six days after, however, 

 would be affected by the gas, and some bad blistering would result. As an 

 illustration of this point, a case might be mentioned where over 200 men 

 were gassed by mustard gas in a system of tunnel dugouts in one night, as a 

 result of men coming in from shelled areas and carrying the material in on 

 the mud on their boots. 



Application to Flying Foxes. 



The whole question of killing flying foxes by the use of cloud gas depends 

 upon the height at which they camp and what concentration would kill them 

 in a certain time. No figures relative to the concentrations of gas necessary 

 to kill different animals are available just now, but numerous experiments 

 have proved that men and goats have equal resistance to practically all the 

 gases tested, and that animals vary in their sensibility to certain gases. If 

 the flying foxes were camped, say, 20 to 30 feet from the ground, the gas 

 might be projected fx-om cylinders well into the air by means of pipes, and 

 provided they could be kept under a concentration of 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 

 5,000 for half an hour (or a higher concentration for a shorter time), the 

 operator would certainly be quite satisfied with the casualties. 



The important question arises — would the creatures wait after they smelt 

 the phosgene ? The gas has an unpleasant smell — " like lilac flower," says 

 the Frenchman, " like bad hay " the Russian — -and most men who get a smell 

 of it spit immediately after. Dr. Lucas, in " Animals of .A.ustralia," says that 

 the natives light fires under the camping places of the flying foxes to stupefy 

 them with the smoke and then knock them down with sticks, which suggests 

 that they would not shift for the smell of the gas. Smoke might perhaps be 

 used to assist in making the gas rise to them. 



The Spread of Contagious Mammitis 



The principal means whereby the disease is spread at the present day is 

 undoubtedly through the use of contaminated milking-machines. The milking 

 is in itself in no way to blame ; milking-machines do not cause contagious 

 mammitis ; they only act as a first-class medium for the conveyance of the 

 disease from one cow to another. Next to this comes hand-milking. Con- 

 taminated hands will spread the disease as easily as the machine ; but in 

 milking by hand the chances are in favour of the disease being sooner detected, 

 resulting in earlier application of preventive measures. — A. R. Young, 

 M.R.C.V.S., in the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. 



