Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/259

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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
233

feathered creatures which the gamekeepers have classed under the section "vermin," and have sentenced to extermination. It is, however, probable that those worthy and energetic men are not likely to read these pages, or to agree with them if they did.

"The prevention of vermiceous diseases" is the subject matter of Appendix I. In some respects, in perusing this section, we seem to be again reading some of the modern injunctions for preventing the spread of phthisis among ourselves. Diseases, "such as husk, are spread by the embryos being brought up in the mucus from the air-passages; these germs are scattered about upon the ground, and thus sow the seeds for numbers of other lambs and sheep to obtain. When that spasmodic cough so characteristic of 'hoose' is heard, it is surely advisable to remove the animal, and so prevent it from contaminating the ground."