OCCURRENCE OF COCCIDIOSIS IN HOUSE SPARROWS AND BOVINES. 71 



avium has not been recorded in fowls in New South Wales, 

 although material from cases of supposed "Black-head" in 

 turkeys has been examined by us, in which they were 

 probably present, but the identification could not be con- 

 firmed. 



II. The Occurrence of Coccidiosis in Australian Oattle. 



In August, 1912, in examining sections of the large 

 intestine of an Ayrshire cow which had died near Lismore, 

 a few coccidia were noticed embedded in the epithelium. 

 Their numbers were few, and only several small groups were 

 noticed. The stages present were mature oval thick- walled 

 oocysts, and near them immature forms with many granules 

 peripherally arranged. Intestinal coccidiosis in cattle, 

 which is supposed to be due to the same parasite (Eimeria 

 stiedce) as occurs in rabbits, has been recorded from the 

 Alps in Europe and from South Africa. In both places 

 considerable mortality has followed. The symptoms con- 

 sist chiefly of a blood-stained diarrhoea. In the present 

 instance, the animal in which the parasites were found 

 was one of several which died with haemorrhagic lesions 

 of the intestinal canal. In only this one were coccidia 

 found, and in it they were few in number. Imperfect 

 material had, however, been forwarded in some of the cases. 

 The coccidia agreed in appearance and dimensions with 

 similar stages of Eimeria stiedce from rabbits in New South 

 Wales. It is stated, however, that rabbits are not known 

 to occur near the locality occupied by the cattle. It would 

 seem either that the affected animal and others had con- 

 tracted the infection from rabbits or that the intestinal 

 coccidiosis had been imported from abroad with cattle, and 

 that the infestation of fresh hosts from time to time had 

 formed a reservoir for the preservation of the coccidia. 

 Man is also recorded as an occasional host of Eimeria 

 stiedce. 



