104 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
XIII. The Destruction of Rabbits Injurious to Woodlands and 
Fields. By the Hon. Epiror. 
Although of late years rabbits have on many estates formed a 
favourite kind of game, there can be little doubt that these prolific 
animals very often cause serious loss to field-crops, pastures, and 
woodlands. So much so is this the case, indeed, that wild 
rabbits are truly classifiable as “vermin” of a dangerously 
destructive type, which ought really to be almost exterminated, 
and their preservation allowed only within warrens properly 
fenced to prevent their egress to adjacent fields and woodlands. 
It is highly improbable that landowners have anything like a 
correct idea of the total amount of direct and indirect loss, 
expressed in money-value, annually caused by rabbits; and a 
true bill of charge and discharge would probably astonish rabbit- 
preserving landed proprietors considerably. Even though tenant- 
farmers have now the right of shooting rabbits, the existing 
legislation does not seem to go anything like as far as seems 
desirable in the national interest. It would be a very good thing 
if rabbits were actually classified as “vermin” when found 
outside of properly-fenced warrens, and if a note to this effect 
were printed on gun-licenses, in place of the note which now 
states expressly that they “are zo¢ vermin” for the purposes of 
the same. 
Even where it is desired to keep down rabbits, it is often 
found difficult to do so. Constant shooting is laborious and by 
no means successful; nor is trapping any easier and more 
successful, while ferretting is slow and expensive. It may 
therefore be of interest to those desirous of reducing to very 
low limits a plague of rabbits, to know the results that have 
been obtained on the Continent from the use of bisulphide of 
carbon to suffocate them in their burrows. 
Bisulphide of carbon (CS,) is a heavy, colourless, and highly 
inflammable liquid, having a disagreeable odour and taste. It 
is soluble in alcohol but not in water, and is a powerful solvent 
of sulphur, phosphorus, fats, and india-rubber. It is therefore 
used extensively in vulcanising india-rubber. It can be bought 
in bulk, or may be prepared by heating pieces of charcoal to 
bright redness in a porcelain tube, and passing sulphur vapour 
along it. When freely inhaled, its vapour acts anesthetically, 
like chloroform and ether; and where it is used as a solvent in 
