35 



A study of the table shows that there occurred iu five different 

 herds the death of twenty animals. Jn all but one case, that of Mr. 

 Bufflngton's heifer, it was known that the individual animals were 

 bitten by dogs or were in herds which were attacked by them. In 

 almost evei'y instance, at the time of death, it was possible to 

 detect recent scratch-like scars either upon the hips, the legs or taiL 



In thirteen cases we have the exact dates upon which the herds 

 were attacked by the two dogs, and in eleven of these the exact date 

 when the different animals began to show signs of illness. Assum- 

 ing that the four animals upon the town farm would have lived only 

 a part of a day which was the case, according to the statement of 

 Mr. Perkins, the superintendent, we have the period of duration of 

 the sickness in eleven of the thirteen cases. 



Of Mr. Cheever's animals it is impossible to state the date upon 

 which any particular one was bitten. but we know that all were driven 

 and frequently bitten by his dog previous to his disappearance. 

 With animal number two, the ten months old calf, no reliable infor- 

 mation can be given except that it was known to have been with the 

 other cattle several days before being found dead in the pasture. 



Animal No. 5 of the same herd (a Jersey cow) when first found 

 on June ninth in a swamp in the pasture presented the symptoms 

 usually observed in animals that had been sick two or three days. 



The other four were discovered when first taken ill. 



Taking the time that elapsed between the attacks made by the 

 dogs upon the herds and the appearance of the first symptoms as the 

 period of incubation, we find the longest to be sixty-eight days, the 

 shortest twenty-one days with an^average of thirty and five-elevenths 

 days. 



Leaving out of the calculation the last two animals of lot No. 2 

 where the periods of incubation are much longer than with any of the 

 others, we find that with the first nine the average period was twenty- 

 four and four-ninths days which more nearly represents the average 

 time. 



The period of duration varied from one to seven days. The long- 

 est is noticed in No. 7 of lot No. 1. The shortest of which we are 

 positive was No. 2 of the same lot, that being one day. The aver- 

 age of seventeen deaths was nearly three days. This is allowing 

 that No. 9 of Mr. Cheever's herd was taken sick June ninth and died 

 the tenth, and No. 1 of Miss Howe's was taken ill June second and 

 died the third. 



