290 
Y. A. MOORE AND F. L. KILBORNE. 
In the appended table is gT/en a list of the rabbits that 
died from the breeding-pens, the pens in which they were 
kept (for relation of pens to each other see diagram), the gross 
lesions as found on post mortem examination, and the distri¬ 
bution of bacteria in the organs of the rabbits as indicated by 
the bacteriological examination. The fact should not be 
omitted that in stained cover-glass preparations from the 
spleen, liver and blood no bacteria were found in any of the 
animals, while in similar preparations from the exudates they 
were invariably present in large numbers, excepting in No. 
488, where no examination was made. 
From the facts recorded in the table it will be observed 
that the disease was practically identical in its manifestations 
in all pf the rabbits examined. It will furthermore be noticed 
that the lesions were localized in every instance, and that 
judging from this outbreak alone the term septicaemia does 
not convey the correct idea of the nature of the disease. The 
specific organism, however, resembled so closely the germ 
which has been described as the bacillus of rabbit septicaemia 
that little doubt can be entertained that it was an outbreak of 
that diseaee in which the germ was attenuated to such a de¬ 
gree that it could no longer multiply in the blood and in¬ 
duce a general septicaemia. The localization was very 
marked, and its similarity to attenuated swine-plague bacteria 
in its preference for the serous membrane is exceedingly 
striking. The lesions were so uniformly constant that it 
seems unnecessary to record the individual post mortem 
notes, but simply to describe the symptoms and pathology as 
they were observed in the disease as a whole. 
Symptoms .—The general manifestations of the disease were 
usually slight. In the beginning of the outbreak the disease 
was so insidious that many of the rabbits were not observed 
to have been ill. Upon closer observation it was found that 
only rabbits which were suffering from a rhinitis died, and 
consequently after the first few deaths the disease could usu¬ 
ally be foretold by the nasal difficulty. An occasional pecu¬ 
liar snuffling sound, accompanied by shaking of the head and 
rubbing of the nose with the feet was noticed in nearly all 
