SEVENTH ANNUAL KI'I'ORT. 127 



VERMINOUS liKOXCUITlS AND PNKUMONIA. 



The number of cases of i)arasitic bronchitis and br()ncho-])neu- 

 monia among the range animals, especially the elk. and to a 

 lesser degree the buffalo also, impels me to raise the consideration 

 of this question of contagion from the eighth place named in my 

 previous report to the importance of fourth place in the present. 



Not only does this disease claim our special attention at this 

 time by reason of the deaths it has already been directly respon- 

 sible for, but particularly in consequence of its insidious but 

 general undermining of health conditions in all animals involved, 

 and unless early and more effectual steps be taken to reduce, 

 and if at all possible to eradicate it from the Park while still 

 new, the result will be most disastrous in the very near future. 

 The laws which govern the propagation and dissemination of 

 the stronguylus micrurus and stronguylus filaria (both of which 

 are present here) are well understood in agriculture, w^here its 

 ravages, notably in young stock, are not uncommon, especially 

 along bottom lands of poor drainage with surface pools and sag 

 spots. 



My experience of the past two years in the care of the animals, 

 along wnth that previously gained in handling outbreaks of this 

 disease in agricultural stock, leads me to point out that very 

 many of these conditions prevail naturally in certain of the pad- 

 docks in the Park, and others have been artificially produced in 

 the course of park ornamentation. 



Medical treatment of this disease in the domestic ruminants 

 avails but little, but the proper and adequate drainage of the 

 pastures invariably brings such outbreaks to an end, hence I 

 trust this great improvement in the interest of animal life and 

 well-being may be consummated at the earliest date. 



CORPUSCLES OF RAINEV. 



The fifth condition coming rightly under the heaci of conta- 

 gions, is also of great clinical interest, not only to students of 

 comparative medicine, but more particularly to those who w^ould 

 make a study of w^ild animals in captivity. While Rainey's cor- 

 puscles of the primitive bundle of the voluntary and involuntary 

 muscles of the domesticated herbivora, and to a lesser extent the 

 omnivora, are of extremely common occurrence, their limited 

 numbers and location, for the most part in non-vital parts with 

 total absence of symptoms of their presence, has long since re- 



