754 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Dec. 1917. 



tick, its "life-history, and tlie nature of the tick-fever should be carried 

 out in Australia. 



The Executive Committee of the Advisory Council has indorsed 

 these recommendations, and has already announced that researches on 

 the life-history of the tick will be undertaken immediately in Southern 

 Queensland. 



Another bulletin which has been issued by the Executive Committee 

 of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry con- 

 tains a number of valuable reports and articles on the nodule disease of 

 cattle. 



The first section of this bulletin consists of the report of a special 

 committee appointed by the Council which met in Sydney last year. 

 This report deals first with the economic aspect of the question, and 

 figures are quoted which show that the annual loss caused to the Aus- 

 tralian meat industry by the parasite Onchocerca gihsoni, which causes 

 the worm-nodules, amounts to over £500,000. This loss is due to the 

 fact that under an agreement with the British Government the Common- 

 wealth authorities have agreed not to allow the export of the briskets, in 

 which the nodules are commonly found, and these portions of the car- 

 casses are removed, and, in the main, wasted. The Special Committee 

 considers that an unnecessary amount of economic loss, both directly 

 and indirectly, is entailed by the present regulations for export, and 

 considers that the Commonwealth Government and the British authori- 

 ties should confer, so as to arrive at some practicable means whereby 

 such waste of food may be prevented as far as possible, and so benefit 

 both the British consumer and the Australian Commonwealth. 



In another article contained in the bulletin, Dr. Georgina Sweet 

 deals with the occurrence of similar worm-nodules in countries other 

 than Australia, and shows that they are found in many localities in 

 Southern Asia, whilst they have recently been discovered in South 

 America, and are reported to occur , also in North America. These 

 facts are of great importance, since the present British regulations dis- 

 criminate against Australian beef, and when they were framed it was 

 thought that worm-nodules were peculiar to Australia. Another power- 

 ful argument is thus provided in favour of a revision of the existing 

 regulations for the exjiort of meat from Australia to Britain. 



The method by which the cattle become infected with the nodule- 

 forming worms is still a mystery, in spite of prolonged research. 

 Opinions differ as to whether the discovery of the means of transmission 

 of the parasite would be likely to lead to results of economic import- 

 ance, but it is obvious that, until this is known, any attempt at quaran- 

 tining cattle or attacking the disease would be impracticable. An 

 account is given in the last portion of the bulletin of the most recent 

 researches on the subject. Drs. Cleland and Dodd and Mr. McEachran, 

 experimenting in Sydney, incline to the opiinion that the disease is 

 spread by march-flies biting the cattle. Up to the present they have 

 not been able to prove this, but a Special Committee is still working 

 on the problem with a grant from the Advisory Council. Experiments 

 conducted in the Northern Territory were negative, but make it doubt- 

 ful whether, in that locality, at any rate, flying insects of any kind 

 can be the vectors of the disease. 



Copies of both bulletins will be supplied, post free, on application to 

 the Secretary of the Advisory Council, 314 Albert street. East Melbourne. 



