EFFECT OF SETTLEMENT UPON INDIGENOUS VEGETATION. 205 
The mischief done to the flora by dogs and foxes is indirect and 
may be better considered under Subdivision 2. 
Rabbits and hares, were, I believe, introduced for sporting 
purposes, but it was never imagined that their new home would 
be so suitable a habitat for them. Indeed, in some parts of the 
country they were a long time getting afooting. I knew a station 
where rabbits became wild through escaping from domestication, 
and took up their quarters in the stock-yard. They became 
plentiful for a while, but the continued attentions of the station 
cats and dogs at last cleared them out. Now, however, the same 
place is infested with rabbits which have arrived from other places 
where they did succeed in getting a footing. 
The number of rabbits in the Colonies now is astounding, and 
one can form a good idea of how they have increased by perusing 
the returns of numbers destroyed. In the Daily Telegraph of 
March 21st, 1892, the following is given as the number destroyed 
at fifteen stations in the western interior during the summer of 
1891-2 :—Billella, 150,000; Morara, 300,000; Cuthero, 150,000; 
Nettly, 300,000; Outer Netallie, 80,000; Momba, 1,000,000 ; 
Kilfera, 1,250,000; Marfield, 147,000; Mount Manara, 150,000; 
Baden Park, 30,000; Fulham, 70,000; Kew, 69,000; ‘Tilcha, 
250,000; Forty-eight Mile Tank, Booligal Road, 17,400; Thirty- 
five Mile Tank, Booligal Road, 40,000 ; Twenty-six Mile Tank, 
Booligal Road, 73,500 ; making in all a grand total of 4,086,500. 
Again in the same paper for April 7th, 1892, Outer Netallie is 
given as 120,000, being 40,000 more and Mooriba 2,000,000. The 
Rabbit Inspector, Mr. A. R. Torrens, who sent in the report to 
the Minister for Mines, believes that for every one destroyed, at 
least thirty died. These returns only refer to holdings on the 
south side of the Darling on the boundaries of the Cobar and 
Balranald land districts. These being the numbers destroyed in 
a part only of the Colony, what must the rabbit population be of 
the whole of the infested Colonies ? 
Estimates are, I believe, sent in quarterly or annually by the 
Stock Inspectors, of the number of rabbits, hares, marsupials, etc., 
