140 J. B. CLELAND. 
Parkes to Forbes, and including the branch line from 
Trundle to Peak Hill and Narromine, and the district from 
Dubbo to Coonamble) was not affected, and in the North 
the pest has never assumed more than normal proportions. 
One aspect of the matter that might be noted with in- 
terest is that Henty—which is situated in the centre of one 
of the worst affected areas—was practically free from mice, 
while the stations a few miles on either side suffered con- 
siderable damage. The same remark applies to Holbrook, 
Old Junee, and Wagga. In the case of Wagga, the Mur- 
rumbidgee River may have been a protection from the mice 
journeying here to the south, for, while there is little evi- 
dence of mice at Wagga, when they came to the river they 
seem to have concentrated their attention at Bomen, where 
they did considerable damage. 
Another noticeable fact is that in hilly country the mice 
did little damage. At Grenfell and Greenthorpe no damage 
was done, yet within a few miles, where the hilly country 
merges into the flat Bland country, the damage was ex- 
eeptionally heavy. This aspect is noticeable right through. 
Wherever hills bounded the towns or districts, the damage 
was very light, and where the country was very flat the 
damage was exceptionally heavy. Molong might be cited 
as another instance—the country between Molong and 
Parkes being hilly right through. At none of these sta- 
tions were the mice above normal, but directly the flat 
country is reached at Parkes, they were reported as bad. 
The same thing occurred at Dubbo—no mice; but on the 
flat country from Dubbo to Coonamble, large quantities of 
them. 
Victoria: The districts affected were the Northern, the 
North-western, and later the South-western portions of the 
State. 
