8i 



fluid. These I laid on some of the kitchen shelves, 

 having taken care that no other food was within reach 

 of the mice. The next day the bread had all dis- 

 appeared, and within a few days the noises made by 

 the mice were appreciably diminished. By the middle 

 of March there was not a single mouse to be seen or 

 heard in any part of the premises, and apparently 

 not one had died in its hidden haunts, or where it 

 could not be got at, for at no time was there the 

 slightest smell. I lay .special stress on this fact, 

 because, immediately on the first mention of this 

 virus and its use in the pages of Cage Birds, a 

 correspondent of that excellent paper made haste to 

 warn us against it on the grounds of its " unwhole- 

 some after effects," a piece of advice, which, coming 

 as it did from a gentleman possessing the ear of the 

 public to a certain extent, might have operated to the 

 disadvantage of many readers, had it not been 

 promptly traversed. 



Many of the dead bodies I found on my lawn, 

 plump and fat ; and although it is pretty certain that 

 some had been eaten by the inevitable neighbours' 

 cats, at present I see no diminution in the number of 

 these faithful friends, who, like the poor, are always 

 with us. 



Although the cure of my veritable plague of 

 mice is absolute for the time being, it is quite possible 

 —indeed probable— that I may be again invaded by 

 stray visitors from neighbouring houses. It would, 

 therefore, seem advisable to present my next door 

 neighbour, who by the way extends his hospitality to 

 rats in his still older house than mine, with the 

 means of helping me to keep my own premises free 



