NOTES AND QUERIES. 293 



and Agricultural Society, and by Principal Williams, F.R.C.V.S.; the 

 other, a report of the Louping-Ill Committee of the Teviotdale Farmer's 

 Club. The term " loupiug-ill " is said to be derived from hloupa, an old 

 Scandinavian word for a staggering gait. The disease (a trembling 

 paralysis) is one which every year entails enormous loss amongst hill 

 sheep, both black- and white-faced, particularly in Scotland. It appears to 

 prevail more in the Silurian hill districts of Scotlaud, and extends from the 

 Hebrides to the southern extremity of Dumfriesshire, being equally preva- 

 lent in the district of Langholm and in the Isle of Skye. The cause of 

 the disease is ascribed to a variety of external circumstances, — as soil, 

 pasture, weather, and the influence of ticks. The popular belief in the 

 influence of the tick, or its close connection with the disease, being very 

 general, it was necessary to consider this point very carefully with the view 

 of determining whether any relationship really existed between the parasite 

 and the disease. The result of observations on this point was confirmatory 

 of the popular idea, for it was found (1) that where louping-ill existed 

 the tick was sure to be ; (2) that where tte parasites were absent there was 

 no louping-ill ; (3) that the appearance of the parasites on the sheep in 

 early summer was concomitant with the annual outbreak ot the disease. 

 Ticks are occasionally found on laud free from louping-ill. From this it is 

 concluded that these parasites are the conveyers or inoculators of a poison 

 existing in the herbage or soil ; for by improvement of the laud by plough- 

 ing and liming, by artificially feeding the sheep, and destroying old grasses, 

 the natural cover of the ticks, "louping-ill" has been entirely eradicated. 

 The tick is a true blood-sucking parasite, belonging to the family Ixodida, 

 provided with a serrated rostrum or beak, which enables it to pierce the 

 skin, and retain its hold very firmly. It is generally to be found where old 

 grasses are abuudant, which afford it cover during the season at which it is 

 not obtaining blood from the sheep. On first leaving the ground to attack 

 an animal it is very small, often no larger than a pin's-head, and the con- 

 gregation of numbers makes the part affected appear quite black. When 

 once fixed they will hang for days together sucking the blood, until their 

 bodies become distended to eight or ten times their original size ; nor do 

 they quit their hold until they die, the eggs remaining dormant until the 

 following spring, when new broods are hatched to commence the attack as 

 before. Mr. Brotherston has done good service by publishing the results of 

 his investigations on this subject ; and the remedies suggested in his report 

 deserve the careful attention of sheep farmers throughout the country. — Ed.] 



MAMMALIA. 



Voracity of the Shrew.— One day last summer I caught two Common 

 Shrews. I placed them in a tin box, aud supplied them with plenty of 



