Caterpillars on Fruit Trees. 
lxxvii 
of the noble Lord, instructions had 
been issued by the Board of Agricul- 
ture that it would not be safe to use 
the poisons on trees under which was 
pasture. 
Mr. Dext asked whether this cater- 
pillar was the same as that which in- 
fested the oaks, and remarked that 
if people were not so fond of catching 
all the tits, bullfinches, Sec, these 
pests would not be so numerous. It 
was to the brutality of gardeners in 
slaughtering every bird they could that 
the great increase of insects was to a 
large extent due. 
Mr. Whitehead answered that 
the caterpillar referred to was not of 
the same species. Its habits were 
somewhat, but not exactly, similar. 
As to the slaughter of birds, that had 
caused to some extent the increase of 
these caterpillars ; but it would re- 
quire all the birds in the world to 
deal with the enormous swarms of 
caterpillars which had been infesting 
fruit-trees for years. 
The Earl of Rayenswoeth asked 
whether any careful investigation had 
been made into the outbreaks of these 
caterpillars ; whether early frosts had 
any effect upon them ; and whether 
there were any data in regard to 
them. 
Mr. Whitehead replied that there 
were swarms of these caterpillars 
about fifteen or sixteen years ago. 
They then ceased for some years. The 
last three or four years they had again 
increased, and seemed likely to stay 
longer. Early frosts had little or no 
effect upon the swarms of grubs. 
The action of frost might make the 
food less palatable to the caterpillars, 
but no experiments had been tried on 
this point. They had just the same 
trouble in America, where caterpillar 
and insect pests had increased won- 
derfully within the last few years. 
If the Americans had not adopted 
these poisonous solutions to kill the 
various insects, they really would have 
had no crops at all. 
Veterinary. 
Sir John Thoeold (Chairman) 
presented the following report by 
Professor Brown : — 
Pleueo - Pneumonia. —During 
the five weeks ended April 26, 
there were thirty-two fresh out- 
breaks of this disease reported in 
Great Britain, 111 cattle were at- 
tacked, and 436 healthy ones which 
had been exposed to infection were 
slaughtered. Of these outbreaks, 
twenty-three occurred in England, 
in the counties of Cumberland, 
Durham, Essex, Lancaster, Leices- 
ter, London, Middlesex, Norfolk, 
Notts, Surrey, and York (W.R.). 
The nine outbreaks in Scotland 
were in the counties of Aberdeen, 
Edinburgh, and Forfar. Of the 111 
cattle attacked, sixty-nine were in 
England and forty-two in Scotland, 
while 315 of the healthy cattle 
slaughtered were in England and 
121 in Scotland. 
In Ireland, thirteen fresh out- 
breaks of pleuro-pneumonia were 
reported in the five weeks ; thirty- 
eight cattle were attacked and 266 
healthy ones in contact with them 
were slaughtered. These outbreaks 
occurred in North and South Dub- 
lin and Rathdown. 
Anthbax. — There were ten out- 
breaks of this disease reported and 
thirteen animals attacked. These 
outbreaks occurred in the following 
districts and on the following 
dates : — St. Martin's, Stamford, in 
the Soke of Peterborough, March 
27 ; Bishop Auckland, Durham, 
and Selbv, York (W. R.), both on 
Maroh 29; Leeds, York (W.R.), 
April 2 ; Harby, near Leicester, 
April 3; Hillfield, Dorset, April 
6 ; Portsoy, Banffshire, Scotland, 
April 7 ; Otford, Sevenoaks, Kent, 
April 12; Bickenhill, near Bir- 
mingham, April 19 ; and St. 
Leonards, East Sussex, April 22. 
In Ireland there were no cases of 
anthrax reported during the five 
weeks. 
Swine Fevee. — There were 334 
fresh outbreaks of swine fever re- 
ported in the five weeks; 1,920 
were attacked, 844 diseased pigs 
were killed, 787 died, 137 recovered, 
and 297 remained alive on April 26. 
In Ireland thirty fresh outbreaks 
of swine fever were reported, and 
ninety-four pigs were attacked. 
Rabies. — In England eleven 
cases of this disease in dogs were 
reported in the five weeks ; they 
occurred in Essex, Hants, London, 
Middlesex, East Sussex, and York 
