764 
W. H. DALRYMPLE. 
In some of the infected districts visited I witnessed a most 
interesting and I should think most unusual spectacle, but 
whether or not it was the result of anthrax would require to be 
decided by experiment. In some fresh-water lakes, into which 
charbonous carcasses had been thrown, large quantities of fish 
could be seen floating on the surface of the water, dead. It has 
generally been considered that fish, owing to their lower tem¬ 
perature, were refractory to the disease. But here we had a 
temperature at the time of 9o°F., or over, with the temperature 
of the water relatively high, which may have been sufficient to 
bring about changed conditions of vitality, and if the fish were 
at all poikilothermic, may it not have been possible and even 
probable that they became infected and died of intestinal an¬ 
thrax ? This, is a very nice as well as a very important point, 
which is worthy of further investigation, because, if such is the 
case, fish, under such conditions, may become a very important 
factor in the spread of anthrax, not only to the lower animals, 
but to man himself. 
The section over which this outbreak spread is flat, thickly 
wooded, subject to inundation and very swampy. 
Although flies of all kinds are always very numerous in 
summer, one of the species of “ tobanus, the 1 tobanus lmeola ’ ” 
was more so this year than had been noticed any year within 
the recollection of some of the oldest inhabitants. In fact, they 
were to be seen in the dwelling-houses in greater numbers than 
even the “ musca domestica,” at the height of summer; and 
during the time of their greatest numbers, animals were posi¬ 
tively covered with them, and blood could be seen trickling 
down wherever the mouth-parts of the fly had been withdrawn. 
The fly here being the transmissive, and the most important 
agent in the spread of anthrax, the thorough study of its life- 
history should engage the serious attention of the student of 
economic entomology. So far, I understand, the study of this 
species has not been satisfactorily prosecuted, on account of the 
difficulty of obtaining the ova and breeding the flies artificially, 
although it does seem to be known that the larva lives in damp * 
