318 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 



consumption cannot, however, be gainsaid, and it is to be hoped, 

 therefore, that the further researches being conducted here and 

 elsewhere will demonstrate the intermediate host, and so enable 

 a policy to be outlined which may ultimately exterminate the 

 parasite. 



General. 



Observations on the general subject of these parasites were 

 commenced by us in 1909, independently of Dr. Cleland and Dr. 

 T. H. Johnston, who have recently (February, 1910) published a 

 preliminary report in the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 

 Volume XXL, 1910, p. 173, and further communications in the 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Volume 

 XLIV., 1910, p. 156-189, the substance of which is also contained 

 in the Report of the Bureau of Microbiology, Sydney, 1910. 



In Melbourne fresh material is difficult to obtain on account 

 of the rarity with which Victorian cattle are affected, and it is only 

 when Northern New South Wales or Queensland cattle which have 

 been imported as stores, and fattened locally, are slaughtered at 

 the abattoirs that there is any opportunity of securing specimens 

 for examination. However, during the past year, thanks to the 

 courtesy of Mr. John Robertson, Superintendent of the City 

 Abattoir, we have from time to time received material. Further, 

 one of us (J.A.G.) during a visit to Queensland examined a large 

 number of affected cattle, both at slaughtering establishments and 

 on stations under normal conditions. As is to be expected, our 

 observations in many respects confirm those of Cleland and Johnston, 

 although conflicting in regard to certain details. 



History of Occurrence in Australia. 



This has been fully dealt with by Cleland and Johnston. In 

 addition to their observations it is worthy of record that several 

 individuals in Queensland, who have been connected with cattle 

 and the meat trade all their lives, are emphatic in their statements 

 that they have known these nodules in the briskets of cattle for 

 upwards of forty years. 



As will be seen later, there is little doubt that the parasites 

 first appeared in the cattle of the northern districts of Australia, 

 and even now, comparatively speaking, the number of animals 

 affected diminishes the further south one travels. Mr. Holt, 

 G.M.V.C, Superintendent and Veterinary Inspector at the Hobart 

 Municipal Abattoir, assures us that although frequent in animals 

 imported from New South Wales, the nodules have never been found 

 by him in cattle from King Island (Bass Straits), or in cattle bred 

 in Tasmania. 



It is certain that had this parasite been common or even rarely 

 present in British and European cattle or their descendants in 

 various other cattle-breeding countries of the world, such as North 

 and South America, South Africa, and New Zealand, their presence 

 would have been the subject of some comment at least, and in the 



