18 
Report of the Laboratory of Comparative 
Pathology. 
Last year we published in the annual report a table 
showing the per cent, mortality for the preceding 13 
years. The mean percentage per annum, according to 
this table, is 2L3. This year, out of 2,020 animals 
exhibited, there have been 371 deaths— a percentage 
of 18.3. 
Of important animals dying during the past year we 
have first to report regretfully the two young orang 
utans. We told last year how Sylvia " had been affected 
by a skin disease, pemphigus, and that her dejecta con- 
tained larval worms. At autopsy her internal organs 
showed advanced tuberculosis, doubtless contracted from 
visitors. Hers was the first death among the primates 
from tuberculosis for 27 months — a record for this and 
doubtless for any other garden in the world. ''Villa" 
died four months later of enteritis. It might be noted in 
passing that he had an attack of influenza last October 
during the height of the epidemic, as indicated by finding 
the influenza bacilli in smears from the nasal discharge. 
Pneumococci were also present. 
The young elephant died of congestion of the lungs. 
The sun bear showed lobar pneumonia of both lungs. 
The baby lion succumbed to a goitre which produced 
a broad traction diverticulum of the esophagus. This 
led to serious disturbances of the beast's nutrition, which 
probably played an important part in the animal's death. 
An adult male lion died of ulcerative tuberculosis of 
the lungs with terminal pneumonia. He also had a 
colloid goitre. 
The sloth bear was one of two purchased in September 
and shipped by auto from New York. Both bears were 
ill (apparently influenza) a few days after arrival and 
one (the female) died after being here 11 days. At 
autopsy the influenza bacillus was found in smears from 
the nose and lung, together with streptococci and pneumo- 
