108 



peare and Professor Burrill. and one by Dr. Bolton, who fonnd it nec- 

 essary to snbniit his rej^ort l)efore the completion of that of his col- 

 leagnes. In both re])()rts it was concluded that there were two 

 epizootic diseases of swine in this conntry. which had been described 

 in the Reports of the Bnrean of Animal Indnstry as hog cholera 

 and swine plagne. respectively. 



In both reports the opinion is ex^^ressed that the germs of each of 

 these diseases were first accnrately described and the proof of their 

 pathogenic relations given in the Annual Reports of the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry. The work of this Bureau is spoken of as up to 

 the standard of modern requirements concerning bacteriological 

 investigations. The l)oard is of the opinion that the disease investi- 

 gated by Dr. Billings in Nebraska and Dr. Detmers in Ohio is iden- 

 tical with the hog cholera described in the Reports of the Bureau. 



The experiments concerning immunity are regarded as inconclusive 

 and more or less indefinite. Yet it was found that there was a cer- 

 tain degree of protection afforded by inoculation and by feeding hogs 

 with the virulent cultures. Inoculation with the living germs of the 

 disease, either through the stomach or by hypodermic inoculation, is 

 considered very objectionable, as it involves a serious risk of more 

 widely extending the disease and increasing instead of diminishing 

 the already enormous losses therefrom. Further investigations are 

 advised with the chemical j^roducts of the disease germs in the hope 

 that a safe method of producing immunity may be discovered. 



DIVISION OF ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY AND MAMMALOGY. 



BULLETIN No. 1. 



The ExoniSH sparrow in Xorth America, C H. Merriam axd 

 W. B. Barroavs (pp. 405). — This bulletin gives in condensed form 

 the. results of an investigation begun in 1884 by a committee of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, continued by the Department of 

 Agriculture in 188(), and completed in 1888. The abundant material 

 upon Avhich the report is based was derived principally from three 

 sources: (T) The original ol)ser rations and reports of more than three 

 thousand correspondents in all parts of America; (2) the published 

 testimony of naturalists and others in all parts of the world; (3) 

 studies of the food-habits of the sparrow, and examinations of large 

 numbers of stomachs l)y specialists connected with the Department of 

 Agriculture. 



A history of the various introductions of the sparrow to America is 

 given; the ra]>i(l increase of the pest is measured, and its distribution 

 is traced and iiiai)p('d. Then are considered successively the different 

 metliods of its distribution, together with the various checks, both 

 natural and artificial, which have affected it from time to time. The 

 next five chapters treat respectively of injuries to Inids, blossoms, and 

 foliage : to fruits, garden seeds, and vegetaloles : to grain ; of the rela- 



