BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 115 



Work on the conglutination test for the diagnosis of glanders was 

 begun with particular reference to the applicability of this test to 

 mules. As mule serum is strongly anticomplementary, unsatisfac- 

 tory results are obtained at times with the complement-fixation test. 

 The results obtained so far are encouraging and indicate the con- 

 glutination test to be not only specific but of particular value in the 

 testing of sera possessing anticomplementary or nonspecific fixing 

 bodies. This work is being continued. 



HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. 



During the fall and winter numerous reports were received of 

 heavy losses among stocker cattle in some of the large cattle markets 

 of the Middle West. From specimens of diseased lung that were 

 received pure cultures of the micro-organisms causing the disease 

 were obtained from material originating in 14 different States, from 

 horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, and wild rabbits. The disease was 

 carried from point to point chiefly by young cattle ranging from 8 

 to 20 months of age and almost invariably by animals that were in 

 very thin flesh. Apparently gaining their infection at the stock- 

 yards, these young cattle transmitted the disease in a few instances 

 to hogs or sheep upon the farms to which they were shipped. 



The organism that caused the outbreaks in the majority of the 

 cases examined proved on bacteriological investigation to belong to 

 the true hemorrhagic septicemia group. A few of the others were 

 caused by organisms that approached the Bacillus paratyphus B in 

 character. 



Encouraged by the gratifying results derived in 1911 from the use 

 of bacterins on buffaloes in the Yellowstone National Park, bacterins 

 were prepared from the cultures recovered from cases of hemorrhagic 

 septicemia of cattle and sheep during the current year, and several 

 available droves of infected young cattle were injected experiment- 

 ally. Test animals at the laboratory and others at Bethesda Experi- 

 ment Station were immunized. From the results obtained during 

 these investigations and in the field it appears evident that outbreaks 

 of hemorrhagic septicemia in cattle and sheep may be frequently 

 checked by injecting all susceptible animals upon the premises on 

 which the disease has appeared with effective bacterins. 



The complement-fixation test proved very reliable in the diagnosis 

 of hemorrhagic septicemia in all species of animals. 



ABORTION DISEASE. 



The investigation and control of bovine infectious abortion has 

 been continued with definite progress. A voluminous correspondence 

 has been the means of disseminating information to all parts of the 

 country and the agricultural press has been used to correct certain 

 misconceptions. This correspondence has also furnished information 

 concerning the distribution of abortion. The outstanding feature has 

 been the exceedingly rapid spread of this disease among range 

 animals. 



Serological tests for diagnosis of abortion were applied in ap- 

 proximately 1,300 cases. These tests were used extensively also in 



