DEATHS IN THE SOCIETY'S GARDENS. 



Found for the first time in : Habitat Type 



Annulated Snake (Leptodira annidata) . S. America. • Stout. 



2 Burrowing Boas {~Eryx thebaicus) Gold Coast. Ordinary size. 



Ocellated Bladder-frog (Leptodactylus Argentina. Long, thick. 



ocellatus). 



Intestinal Organisms. 

 Reptiles. 



Viperine Snake (Tropidonotus viper inus). Europe. Amoebas. 



Notes on the foregoing. 



1. The total incidence of microbic and parasitic diseases causing 

 death in the Gardens for 1916 is 8*5 per cent, in mammals, 

 6*1 per cent, in birds, and 9*4 per cent, in reptiles. If those 

 cases which have not lived six months in the Gardens be ex- 

 cluded, these percentages will be greatly reduced. 



2. The numbers of deaths from tuberculosis amongst the 

 mammals and birds show a relative increase, the incidence being 

 1*8 per cent, in mammals and 2*8 per cent, in birds. Amongst 

 the mammals dying from tuberculosis, 16 in all, 7 were Monkeys, 

 and of these 5 had been pet animals; of the remaining 9 animals 

 4 had been pets. These figures seem to me to indicate quite 

 plainly that pet animals should not be accepted by the Society, 

 or only after the strictest quarantine. An Orang Utan which 

 had been 8| years in the Gardens had chronic tubercle of 

 human type, which he might very well have brought with him. 

 The most remarkable case this year was in an Ibex which died 

 when about a fortnight old with tubercle of liver, spleen, and 

 mesenteric glands. There is a relative increase this year in the 

 number of deaths from tubercle amongst the birds, and in a 

 much larger relative number were the lesions generalized, name]y 

 in 36, indicating a more severe type of the disease. The one 

 reptile was an Alligator in which the disease was of human 

 type, and was no doubt caused by the habit of certain visitors of 

 spitting at the animals, to which I have often called attention in 

 previous reports. 



3. As usual I have grouped all the diseases caused by moulds 

 under mycosis. In the mammals six of the cases were of the 

 ordinary type, associated with abscesses; and in six, tumours 

 (mycetomata) in various organs were present. In a. sheep the 

 growth began in the cavities of the nose and spread into the 

 adjacent bone-spaces. There is a slight relative increase amongst 

 the birds, but there are now less than half the number of cases 

 there were a few years ago. In one Parrot it was caused by 

 Aspergillus niger. Three of the six reptiles died with mycotic 

 tumours in various parts. 



4. The incidence of pneumonia remains about the same as 

 last year amongst the mammals and birds. In one bird it was 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1917, No. III. 3 



