gentleman conceived the idea
that the introduction of the rabbit, and its establishment as a wild
animal, would be a good thing. He reasoned that it would furnish a good
food supply, that it would furnish sport, and being unable to harm any
other creature of flesh and blood it was therefore harmless.
Accordingly, three pairs of rabbits were imported and set free.

In a short time, the immense number of rabbits that began to overrun the
country furnished food for reflection, as well as for the table. A very
simple calculation brought out the startling information that, under
perfectly favorable conditions, a single pair of rabbits could in three
years' time produce progeny amounting to 13,718,000 individuals. Ever
since that time, in discussing the rabbits of Australia it has been
necessary to speak in millions.

"The inhabitants of the colony," says Dr. Richard Lydekker, "soon found
that the rabbits were a plague, for they devoured the grass, which was
needed for the sheep, the bark of trees, and every kind of fruit and
vegetable, until the prospects of the colony became a very serious
matter, and ruin seemed inevitable. In New South Wales upwards of
15,000,000 rabbits skins have been exported in a single year; while in
thirteen years ending with 1889 no less than 39,000,000 were accounted
for in Victoria alone.

"To prevent the increase of these rodents, the introduction of weasels,
stoats, mongooses, etc., has been tried; but it has been found that
those carnivores neglected the rabbits and took to feeding on poultry,
and thus became as great a nuisance as the animals they were intended to
destroy. The attempt to kill them off by the introduction of an epidemic
disease has also failed. In order to protect such portions of the
country as are still free from rabbits, fences of wire netting have been
erected; one of these fences erected by the Government of Victoria
extending for a distance of upwards of one hundred and fifty
geographical miles. In New Zealand, where the rabbit has been introduced
little more than twenty years, its increase has been so enormous, and
the destruction it inflicts so great, that in some districts it has
actually been a question whether the colonists should not vacate the
country rather than attempt to fight against the plague. The average
number of rabbit skins exported from New Zealand is now twelve
millions."--(Royal Natural History.)

THE FOX PEST IN AUSTRALIA.--And now unfortunate Au