168 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



rats had resulted from the measures taken in consequence of this issue of 

 the Government's order about rewards cannot well be doubted. On aU 

 sides I am told so, as if it were a matter that admitted of no doubt what- 

 ever. The cultivators as a body are (it would appear) assured that it is. 

 so." 



The Collector of Kaladgi writes (21st February 1880) : ''The destruc- 

 tion of rats brought about by the offer of rewards was most beneficial.. 

 They might perhaps have died afterwards from natural causes but they 

 were killed sooner and the destruction of upwards of 4 millions of rats, 

 must have saved the crops to a vast extent. Besides the payment of 

 their rewards enabled large number of people who would otherwise have^ 

 been thrown back on Relief works to support themselves and the money 

 was as profitably spent as any sums were during the famine." The total 

 number of rats killed in the Kaladgi district was 4,130,209. Total rewards 

 paid Rs. 40,437-7-9. 



The Collector of Ahmednagar (Mr. King) was by no means sure that 

 their numbers were very appreciably reduced by artificial means. He 

 writes : " Rain is very effectual in killing the vermin either by drowning or 

 causing the soil to swell and to close the burrows. Frost in November and 

 December also appears to have killed them." 



The Commissioner, Central Division ( Mr. Robertson), " was told that 

 shortly after the rains, in many villages in the Shrigonda taluka, large 

 numbers of rats were seen dead outside, and even in their holes, covered 

 with a species of tick which appears to have killed them in large numbers. 

 Ticks do not attach themselves to dead bodies. On enquiry it was report- 

 ed that red ticks fastened themselves on the rats while alive and caused 

 their deaths." 



The Collector of Poona writes : "the plague has now ( 21 February 1880) 

 ceased and in the Collector's opinion the rapid fall in niimbers killed is not 

 owing to rats having been virtually exterminated but is probably due ta 

 natural causes." 



The Collector of Sholapur considers that if the rats had not been killed 

 the plague would have ceased all the same but the damage would have 

 been far greater. Possibly the later monsoon rain killed them off, but 

 Mr. Spry is sceptical as to the tick theory. 



Khandesh, Satara and Belgaum suffered much less than the other dis- 

 tricts referred to. 



It appears from the above facts that the concensus of opinion was that 

 the cessation of the plague of rats was due to natural causes and not to the. 

 measures which were taken by Government to exterminate them, but it is 

 admitted that the measures by which some 15 million rats were destroyed 

 provided relief for starving people and that they probably saved a large 

 amount of damage to the crops. It is not clear that the ticks were the 

 cause of the rats' disappearance. In regard to the anticipated plague in 

 the cold weather of 1920-1921, the question arises is pretention possible 

 now? Would It be worth while to employ the Waddars m one or more of 

 the districts which was most affected by the famine of 1918-19 to catch the 

 rats now m order to prevent a plague occurring next cold season ? 

 <xr.p7i^ iT 1 '^r^ y^'''^ ''"'' ^"^"^^y ^^" b«^^ carrying on elicited a. 

 KTt r 'J^Tr?'"''?™^*^^^^^*^*^'^ ^^"«"« species of rats found 

 tWp.S ? hke to endorse Mr. Kinnear's appeal that specimens of all 

 tlLllL >:"]""' f.t""-^^^^ by determining to what 



ZIZ^^Z ^J.^'^.'^gf^'^^^heir life history, it may be possible that in the 



otrri:gfn%STr:ticwr^^ "^^^'^ '^'-'''^ '^ p---^ -«^ pi^g-^ 



Bombay, March 1920. 



Presidency. 



W. S. MILLARD. 



i 



