BY DR. OSCAR KATZ. 539 



from a certain number (eight) which were picked out at random each 

 time, and of the full post-mortem examination of one which was found 

 dead inside burrow at the conclusion of the experiment. 



Uninfected Rabbits. — Of the hundred uninfected rabbits placed in the 

 enclosure, November 7th, five died quickly up to the morning of 

 November 8th, and were at once replaced by fresh ones. Thence to 

 November 14th, when the second batch of six infected rabbits were 

 let loose, not less tha.nJi/'ty-two had died. 



From November 15th to November 22nd, when the third lot of six 

 infected rabbits were let loose, seventeen had died. 



From November 23rd to November 29th (conclusion of the experi- 

 ment), ten had died. 



Thus it will be seen that not less than seventy-nine out of the 

 hundred died, partly inside, partly outside the burrows. One rabbit 

 managed to escape, somehow or other, into the adjoining shed, about 

 a week after the beginning of the experiment. It was used otherwise. 

 So that not more than twenty of the uninfected rabbits were left over 

 ultimately. 



The carcasses of the seventy-nine rabbits did not in the least indicate 

 that " chicken-cholera " was the cause of their death ; nor did the 

 symptoms which a number of rabbits were seen to show shortly before 

 death, correspond with those characteristic in " chicken-cholera." The 

 carcasses were all removed from the enclosure as soon as it was 

 possible, and submitted to a careful examination. But not in one 

 instance could the cause of death be diai^nosed as " chicken-cholera." 

 On the contrary, I had little doubt that the huge mortality en- 

 countered in this experiment among the hundred rabbits arose from 

 the effects of the starvation which they had to undergo, to a certain 

 extent, before they were sent to the Island from the then dry country 

 round Hay, New South Wales. I should add that before and after 

 the above experiment, a similar mortality was noticed among rabbits 

 kept in stock, and that every attendance as regards feeding, sheltering, 

 or the like, was given to the rabbits on the Island on all occasions. 



(An appended table of temperatures and notes on weather prevailing 

 during the term of the above experiment may be found at the end. ) 



had been removed previously, a sample of liver-substance was derived. The opening thus 

 made into the body closed up again after the tube had been taken out, and in this way the 

 body was not perceptibly disturbed. 



