1916] VETERIN-AKY MEDICINE. g77 



no time was there any carbon dioxld present. In a similar experiment with 

 buttermilk from sweet cream butter made from pasteurized cream having an 

 acidity of 0.108 per cent the inclosed air underwent practically no change in 

 270 days' storage at 0°. 



The author summarizes the investigations as follows : " The development of 

 undesirable flavors in butter held in cold storage at a temperature of 0° is 

 not dependent upon an oxidation of the fat itself. The production of 'off- 

 flavors' so commonly met with in cold-storage butter is attributable to a 

 chemical change expressed through a slow oxidation progressing in some one 

 or more of the nonfatty substances occurring in the buttermilk. The extent 

 of this chemical change is directly proportional to the quantity of acid present 

 in the cream from which the butter was prepared. The quantity of carbon 

 dioxid present in cold-storage butter appears to have a certain relation to the 

 quantity of buttermilk in the butter. During storage this quantity of carbon 

 dioxid may increase to a maximum followed by a progressive decrease." 



VETEEINARY MEDICINE. 



Live stock disease investigations, L. B. Bakbeb {Guam Sta. Rpt. 1915, pp. 

 25-41, pis. 2, figs. 4)- — Cattle ticks, which are so widely spread on the island 

 that few calves succeed in avoiding serious infestation, are said to constitute 

 the greatest obstacle in the way of the cattle industry in Guam. B. H. Ran- 

 som of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has identified the species as 

 Margaropus annulatus caudatus, and the author has been unable to differen- 

 tiate the ticks infesting cattle and those on horses, carabaos. goats, and deer. 

 That serious infestation takes place during the dry season it is thought may be 

 explained in part by the fact that the cattle at that time of the year are 

 usually in poor condition due to the absence of proper feed. 



Observations on the biology of this tick indicate that the life history is 

 essentially the same as that of M. annulatus. Temperature charts of animals 

 severely infested with ticks are presented and discussed. Examinations of 

 the blood of an animal during periods of high fever have shown the presence 

 of a parasite that is smaller than Piroplasma bigeminum. 



Comparatively few fenced pastures are to be found in Guam, and practi- 

 cally all the cattle that are not running in more or less of a wild state in the 

 interior of the island are used as cart animals, traveling from village to 

 village and from ranch to ranch, thus making it exceedingly difiicult to main- 

 tain and enforce a quarantine. In eradication work, the horses, carabaos, 

 goats, and deer as well would have to be taken into consideration. 



Liver flukes (Fasciola hepatica) have been found to infest cattle, hogs, and 

 goats. A post-mortem examination of 32 beef carcasses at the city market 

 in Agana showed 26 livers to be infested and 4 gave evidence of pre- 

 vious infestation with flukes, while 9 livers of 14 hog carcasses inspected 

 were infested and 2 showed the effects of flukes. The livers of some of the 

 cattle examined were almost totally destroyed by the flukes, though the 

 animals appeared to be in a fairly healthy condition. Few, if any, cattle 

 succumb as a direct result of fluke infestation, but the fluke undoubtedly 

 materially checks the growth and influences to a considerable degree the 

 normal development of a young animal. Infestation of goats and swine, 

 especially the former, is apparently more serious, and if allowed to remain 

 uncorrected eventually will result in a high mortality. Among the preventive 

 measures mentioned the author suggests the introduction of frogs and toads, 

 which do not occur on the island, to assist in the eradication of snails, the 

 intermediate hosts. 



