SIXTH ANNUAL. REPORT. 109 



complicated than among our animals, for in the Park we have 

 to contend with the greatest extremes in alterations of climate 

 and habitat, as well as to comply with the most widely varied 

 demands in alimentation. 



GASTRO-ENTERITIS AMONG THE RUMINANTS. 



It is not at all unexpected, therefore, that our most serious 

 mortality has resulted from gastro - enteritis; but, contrary to 

 the ideas of the layman, this condition has been most severe 

 and frequent in specimens of our native wild animals — notably 

 in deer, caribou, and moose native to this country, and largely 

 taken from climates not widely dififering from that of New York. 



In the most acute of these cases, those in which death occurs 

 in from ten to thirty-six hours after the onset in animals previ- 

 ously healthy, the lesions are generally limited to the aboma- 

 sum, or true stomach. The lesions consist of an acute injection 

 of the submucous blood-vessels, not infrequently with smaller 

 or larger submucous blood-extravasations. In none of these 

 acute cases have I found ulcers, though they may be present 

 when the process becomes subacute or chronic; generally the 

 viscus contains a somewhat limited quantity of substance which 

 consists of fermented food mingled with a fluid which contains 

 many leucocytes and occasional red blood-cells. Most fre- 

 quently in these cases the other cavities of the stomach are filled, 

 or over-filled, with food which is almost invariably so much fer- 

 mented that enormous gaseous distention takes place, quite fre- 

 quently before death. 



In those cases in which the disease has been of longer dura- 

 tion the process extends downward, successively involving the 

 duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. I have seen an extension into 

 the cavities of the false stomach in but one case ; that was an 

 extremely severe one, which occurred in a young bull-moose. 

 The lesions which are produced in the intestine are identical 

 with those of the stomach. As is to be expected, diarrhoea, with 

 a very much decreased food-assimilation follows, and the animal 

 rapidly emaciates, finally dying in a state of general exhaustion 

 and malnutrition. 



If the disease extends to the colon, dysentery follows, and at 

 the same time the process in the stomach and small intestines 

 becomes more and more marked, finally resulting in an atrophic 



