J. F. Valladares 
93 
writers are correct and that the discrepancies in their results were due 
to their dealing with different parasites, viz. P. caballi and N. equi. 
Concerning the mode of propagation of this disease, ticks came to 
be regarded with a great deal of suspicion, and personally I have 
noticed all the cases that have come under my observation harbouring 
these acarids at one time or another on their bodies. This suspicion 
is accentuated by the fact that in an outbreak of equine biliary fever in 
Southern Russia (1908), ticks recognised as Hyalonana aegyptiimi were 
found on the horses, although it has not yet been proved that this tick 
is the transmitting agent. Joliffe (1907) has ob,served in outbreaks of 
biliary fever amongst cavalry horses in India, the absence of ticks and 
suggests that some winged insect may possibly be concerned in the 
dissemination of the parasites. Lingard (1904) assumed that the 
mosquitoes were the carriers in this country. 
Marzinowsky and Bielitzer (1908), working on equine piroplasmosis 
P. caballi in Russia, found the tick DermOjCentor reticulatus upon 
infected horses. They state that locally bred horses scarcely suffer 
from this disease and appear immune ; on the other hand imported 
horses are very susceptible and often die. Theiler (1905) demonstrated 
equine biliary fever to be a tick-borne disease in South Africa, the 
carrier being Rhipicephalus evei'tsi. As neither Dermacentor reticulatus 
nor Rhipicephalus evertsi has yet been found in India to my knowledge, 
the intermediate host still remains to be discovered in this country. 
This discovery may prove of practical importance in the treatment of 
the disease in horses. For the present quinine and salol appears to 
be the best treatment available', as evidenced from tlie satisfactory 
results obtained by means of these drugs at the Madras Veterinary 
College Hospital. 
Bielitzer’s (1910) recommendation that all young equine stock 
should be exposed to tick infection, thereby acquiring a natural 
immunity, may be mentioned. Another method of immunisation is 
that adopted by Theiler (1906). He took the serum of immune, i.e. 
recovered donkey foals, and inoculated it subcutaneously into clean 
animals. He found there were fewer deaths when blood was taken in 
this way than when taken from a horse foal. These methods have 
been recommended for many years in bovine piroplasmosis. 
' There was a severe outbreak of biliary fever in horses at Nagpur in October— 
December 1913, in which the two species of parasites, N. equi and P. caballi, were 
recorded. Two valuable English race horses, both infected with Nuttallia equi, the 
property of Mr Fagan (Personal Assistant to the Inspector General of Police, Central 
Provinces), were successfully treated with tri/panblue alone. 
