3826 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
(Consequently I still advise their use. I would say this, how- 
ever : that they must not be relied upon in the South Island for 
the high snowy lands.) 
I therefore determined to apply for the reward myself, and 
I sent one of the diseased rabbits to Sir James Hector to ask his 
opinion. That gentleman replied favourably. He had previously 
received two specimens of the disease from the Wairarapa, and 
he had himself seen a virulent disease of some kind amongst the 
rabbits in North America. Sir James had previously spoken to 
me about this disease that he had observed, and he therefore 
made up his mind definitely to identify it, upon receiving this 
third specimen from me, with the North American disease. 
Professor Thomas differs from this view, and says that the tape- 
worm is not the same—that it is totally distinct. It may be so, 
and Sir James Hector may be wrong. Our rabbit is not the 
game animal as the jack-rabbit of North America—a sort of 
hare; but, nevertheless, I wish to record my thorough apprecia- 
tion of Sir James Hector’s services in identifying the disease so 
far as he did. Sir James did not know which animal acted as 
host in passing the particular worm that is here. I said it was 
the dog. We had all along observed it coming from the dog. 
Neither Sir James Hector nor Professor Thomas thought it 
could be the tame dog, although Professor Thomas was careful 
to express no decided opinion. It will be observed upon reference 
that Sir James Hector thought it came “ probably from the wild 
dog and cat.” Of course we have wild dogs, and I have turned 
out many cats, which have thriven remarkably well; and these 
may have started the disease: but the tame dogs certainly do 
carry it on, and they will spread it readily in the South Island. 
The cats may also spread it, as there are at least a hundred cats 
upon my run now. The disease only requires to be started upon 
the runs in the south or elsewhere to perform as good work as it 
performed with us in the Wairarapa. 
My letter to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, 
applying for the reward, found its way into the newspapers of 
Australia, and immediately I was told by many of my fellow- 
settlers in the Wairarapa that the disease was no new thing; 
that some of them had observed it two, four, even six years ago ; 
that they had it upon their runs, and other diseases as well, such 
as liver-rot, mange, scab, and lice. The generality of them said 
