HA&DWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



265 



ANIMAL PLAGUES. 



By P. L. SIMMONDS, F.L.S. 



OTWITHSTAND- 

 ING all the com- 

 plaints of our 

 changeable and 

 unsettled climate, 

 we are at least 

 free from many of 

 the scourges of 

 other countries. 

 We have not the 

 long droughts of 

 Australia, nor the 

 heavy rainy sea- 

 sons of the tropics ; 

 we have not many 

 of the animal 

 plagues to which 

 some districts are 

 subject, whether 

 they be wild beasts 

 in the shape of 

 wolves, tigers, and lions, among the reptiles alli- 

 gators and crocodiles, or the dangerous snakes ; 

 nor even in the insect tribes have we the tsetse 

 fly to kill our cattle, the locusts and ants to de- 

 vastate our fields, or the chigoes, fleas, and clouds 

 of mosquitoes and flies to annoy our person. We 

 are free from wild animals, except those we en- 

 courage for hunting. In India 23,000 persons 

 are killed annually by wild beasts, tigers, leopards, 

 bears, wolves, hyenas, and other carnivora, or by 

 snakes ; and over 68,000 cattle are also killed by 

 these. The venomous snakes of India are colubrine 

 and viperine ; about seven of the former are very 

 poisonous ; over 578,400 snakes are killed yearly in 

 India, the sum paid by government for killing them 

 amounting to 2500/. to 3000/. The reward given 

 for each snake killed ranges from 6d. to 3J. in 

 different presidencies. Snakes seem to abound most 

 in Bombay, more than four-fifths the number killed 

 No. 336. — December 1892. 



annually being in that presidency. There is a deep- 

 rooted prejudice among most natives of India against 

 killing a snake — a prejudice which the offer of the 

 small reward has scarcely overcome ; indeed, how 

 can one expect a man to risk his life for a few pence ? 

 The number of wild beasts killed in India in 18S9 

 the latest published return), was 29 elephants, 1312 

 tigers, 4179 leopards, 1194 bears, 4630 wolves, 

 and 1348 hyenas. About 17,600 seems to be the 

 average number of wild beasts destroyed yearly. In 

 France the State pays 3/. for each wolf killed ; the 

 number slaughtered dropped from 1225 in 1882 to 

 700 in 1887. 



The Russian forests contained in 1880 170,000 

 wolves, which, together with bears, devour annually 

 200 children or travellers, 500 horses, more than 

 1000 oxen, and over 4000 other domestic animals. 

 The slaughter in the empire of Austria yearly is 160 

 bears, 200 hyenas, and 1200 wolves. In Finland 

 wolves destroy 5500 horned cattle annually. 



In India, in 1S89, 25,204 persons were killed by 

 wild animals and snakes, chiefly the latter, 22,480. 

 About 70,000 cattle are killed yearly, chiefly by tigers 

 and leopards, wolves and hyenas, and nearly 4000 

 by snakes. 



In Java there are 270 persons killed yearly by 

 tigers, and 180 by crocodiles. The latter reptile is 

 not made a pet of as by some of the Indian fanatics, 

 who will not kill them, but rather cherish them. The 

 locust is another pest, the deposit of whose eggs in 

 the soil breeds consternation in the land. In the 

 countries bordering on the Mediterranean these 

 insects often appear in incredible numbers ; millions 

 of them may be seen covering the ground for miles, 

 many inches thick, and although the natives some- 

 times eat them, and try also to utilise them as bait 

 for the sardine fisheries, they are still an intolerable 

 nuisance in northern Africa, Cyprus, and other 

 quarters. In Cyprus the peasants are paid 40/. for 

 every ton of locust's eggs which they destroy ; some 



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