Live Stock. 



130 



[August, 1911. 



for the experiment. I accordingly com- 

 missioned an entomologist friend to go 

 to Scotland to collect and despatch a 

 number of* the adult beetles. A large 

 parcel of the insects arrived in due 

 course ; but the beetles had all succumb- 

 ed during the voyage. The adult insects 

 having failed to survive the long 

 journey, I suggested a second attempt 

 in which the larvae instead of the 

 beetles should be submitted to tri&l. A 

 number of the larvae were carefully 

 packed in a tin box with what appeared 

 to be an ample supply of their natural 

 food. This parcel has just reached me. 

 Upon examination of the contents, I find 

 three living and apparently healthy 

 larvae, about three parts grown. The 

 remainder have completely disappeared. 

 I can find no trace of their dead bodies, 

 and I am inclined to believe that they 

 have been devoured by their surviving 

 comrades after the latter had exhaust- 

 ed their proper food. This partial 

 success shows me that it would be 

 possible, wrth proper precautions, to 

 introduce the living larvae ; but an 

 examination of these survivors con- 



vinces me that they would really be of 

 little or no use to us. They are much 

 too large to be able to live in the 

 galleries of our Xyleborus. Though the 

 younger larvae of the Clerus might be 

 small enough to traverse the galleries 

 of the Shot-hole Borer, they would not 

 be able to complete their transform- 

 ations there, and could, consequently, 

 never establish themselves permanently 

 in the tea bushes. 



I fear, therefcre, that we must give up 

 all hopes of assistance from Clerus 

 formicarius, and I cannot recommend 

 any further expenditure upon this ex- 

 periment. It may, however, be possible 

 to find an allied but smaller species of 

 Clerid that may be more suited to our 

 purpose. I have been told of another 

 British species (Nemasoma elongatum) 

 which — though ordinarily excessively 

 scarce — occasionally appears in large 

 numbers in restricted localities. It 

 preys upon a small beetle that tunnels 

 in wooden palings, and on the rare 

 occasions when it occurs, is said to 

 effectively exterminate the borer upon 

 which it preys. 



LIVE STOCK. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR CONTROLLING 

 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG FOOD 

 ANIMALS. 



By J. S. Lloyd, p.r.c.v.s., d.v.s.m., 

 Chief Veterinary Inspector for the 

 City of Sheffield. 



(From the Veterinary Journal, Vol. 67, 

 No. 433, July, 1911.) 



It will be useless taking up the time 

 of this meeting in discussing the inter- 

 communicability of • human and bovine 

 tuberculosis because I think the conclu- 

 sion of the Royal Commission on Tuber- 

 culosis, that the disease in animals and 

 man is one and the same, is now gener- 

 ally accepted. That, I take it, is a suffi- 

 cient reason why tuberculosis in food 

 animals should be controlled, or if pos- 

 sible, eradicated. 



Remembering that horses and dogs 

 are not generally used as food for 

 human beings in this country, although 

 occasionally affected with tuberculosis, 

 those animals may be at once eliminated 

 from the subject under discussion. 

 Remembering also that the disease is 

 only infrequently seen in sheep, these 

 animals can also be left out of account, 

 and my only remark in connection with 

 them is to ask the questions— Why is 



tuberculosis so uncommon among sheep ? 

 Is it because of the open-air life they 

 almost invariably lead ? Has the sheep 

 a stronger power of resistance to the 

 disease than some other ruminants ? I 

 am not aware that the latter matter has 

 been investigated. Leaving out of con- 

 sideration the presence of tubercle in 

 ground game, and birds, as being of 

 minor importance, we can thus narrow 

 the food animals affected wich the 

 disease and used commonly as human 

 food, to cattle and swine. 



Tuberculosis is well known to be pre- 

 valent in both these classes of animals, 

 but I do not propose to give statistics to 

 prove that such is the case. Granting 

 that it is so, what are the certain 

 results, (J) as affecting the stock-owner, 

 (2) as affecting the consumer of meat 

 and milk from tuberculous animals ? 



It has been stated by some that the 

 individual loss to owners of cattle by 

 tuberculosis is not great, but remember- 

 ing the prevalence of the disease, the 

 fact that a certain number die from 

 tubercle, and that a far greater number 

 as a result of infection are unthrifty, 

 there can be no doubt that taken collec- 

 tively, tuberculosis among cattle and 

 swine must cause considerable loss to 

 the owners of such animals. That the 

 meat of badly infected tuberculous car- 



