CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 297 



Mr. J. G. Knapp, Liinona, Fla., who is the statistical agent of the 

 Department for that State, forwards the following extract from a letter 

 addressed to him by Mr. F. A. Heudsy, of Fort Myers (Caloosahatchee), 

 Florida, in Ai)ril last : 



Some cattle have dropped dead in this locality, number not known. For several 

 years cattle have died here from this unknown cause. So far the cause is a mystery. 

 A few years ago one thousand or more animals died in fat condition. All ages and 

 sexes were alike affected. There is no lingering ; apparently as sound as can be and 

 in a minute of tiuje lifeless. It is not contagious — prevails only in certain localities. 

 I have dissected the animals and examined carefully, but fouud no internal evidence 

 of disorganization. 



Mr. Knapp adds that the indications are that some very active veg- 

 table i^oison is the cause. Several very poisonous plants and trees, 

 such as the Ilippomane and other IJuphopbiace(e, with the Rhus meto- 

 piinUj grow there. 



HORSES. 



Horses poisoned by vegetation. — A correspondent at San An- 

 tonio, Tex., informs the Department that there have been heavy losses 

 of horses through a strip of country where the live oak, red and post oak, 

 and the hickory grow. This district runs through Medina, Atascosa, 

 Bexar, McMullen, Live Oak, Wilson, and Frio counties, and ends about 

 the boundary line of De Witt. The land in this district is generally of a 

 sandy nature, and does not i)roduce a vigorous growth of any variety of 

 grass, though it is for the greater part of the year, on an average, a fair 

 range country. At this time of year (April) there is little grass in this 

 district, and stock have been subsisting partially, for some time, on 

 acorns, to the eating. of which the losses of horses are attributed. Mr. 

 Duck, Mrs. O'Brien, and others, have lost quite a number of animals, 

 and it is reported there have been some losses in W. W. Bobbins' past- 

 ure, where stock has been placed for fattening. The horses, when first 

 attacked, seem to be drawn together as if in loin distemper, and appear 

 to suffer greatly, virtually walking on the tips of their hind hoofs. Then 

 they gradually pitch forward, fall to the ground, and never get up again. 

 The affliction does not seem to have any relation to the condition of the 

 animal, as some of the fattest horses in the country have fallen a prey 

 to the malady. Mares seem to suffer most. Mr. Duck attributes the 

 losses to acorns, which are not only wormy, but were not so well matured 

 as in former years. Hogs, however, have grown very fat on them. 



TeuRIBLE DESTRUCTION OF FARM ANIMALS BY BUFFALO GNATS. — 



The losses of farm animals last spring in some of the Southern States 

 from the irritation and poison of buffalo gnats were very heavy. No 

 deadly contagious disease has ever caused such destruction among the 

 herds and flocks of the Southwest as have these poisonous pests during 

 the past season. Mr. A. F. Osborn, Winnsborough, Franklin Parish, 

 Louisiana, writing to the Department under date of May 15 last, says: 



Fullyone-half of all the farm animalsof thiHi)arisli have fallen victims tothe poison 

 impregnated by the bite of the l>utValo gnats. Horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs 



