Summary. The gross anatomy of the mammary gland of the red deer is described. A total of 102 milk samples was obtained from six deer (four during a complete lactation). These contained an average of 21\m=.\1 % total solids (8\m=.\5% fat) in early lactation, rising to 27\m=.\1% (13\m=.\1% fat) in late lactation. Milk yieldswere measured by the calf-weighing technique. In well-fed hinds, peak yields of 1400 to 2000 g/day were reached early in lactation. One hind on a restricted food intake gave a maximum of 970 g/day. Lactation continued for 190 to over 280 days. Total yields for the first 150 days were estimated to be 140 to 180 kg in well-fed hinds and 65 kg in the underfed hind.The feed intakes of the hinds rose during late pregnancy, and in early lactation rose again markedly, to a level about 2\ m=. \ 4 to 2\ m=. \ 6 times the maintenance requirement of non-breeding animals.

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SUMMARYCarcass characteristics were studied in young red deer raised on a Scottish hill farm with heather·dominant pasture. Stags slaughtered in September when 15 or 27 months old were very lean, and entire and castrate animals were similar in weight. At 15 months they were barely a half of their expected mature weight. With no pre-slaughter fasting, dressed carcass weight was 49–51% of live weight. A more detailed analysis of carcass conformation was made in a study of entire stags, castrate stags and hinds slaughtered when 15 months old after being held overnight without food or water. The three groups were similar in that their dressed carcasses weighed about 52% of live weight and the content of first class lean meat amounted to 32% of live weight. There was only 4·5% of chemical fat in the empty carcass.The pH of the meat 36 h post mortem often remained high in the stag groups, relative to a mean value of pH 5·7 found in shot wild stags. This high-pH character was little affected by the severity of stress immediately before slaughter, nor by the availability of food. It seemed to be caused by holding the animals in unfamiliar surroundings for some 16 h before slaughter.

SummaryOn three occasions, antibody positive blood from wild red deer produced overt infections with Babesia when inoculated into splenecto-mized red deer. One of the deer also became infected with Eperythrozoon sp. Babesia divergens, B. capreoli and the Babesia of red deer are morphologically similar and the marginal position of the parasites in the host cell is characteristic. Babesia were not seen and no antibody was formed in five out of six splenectomized bovine calves which were injected with parasitaemic red deer blood. Two of these calves when challenged with B. divergens were fully susceptible. A transient infection with the deer Babesia may have occurred in the sixth calf since antibody was detected and the animal resisted challenge with B. divergens.In indirect fluorescent antibody tests there was little or no difference in the titre of sera from naturally or experimentally infected cattle and deer when reacted with B. divergens or the red deer Babesia antigens. Despite their similarities, specific status for B. divergens and the red deer Babesia is probably justified; at present there is insufficient evidence to justify separation of the red deer Babesia from B. capreoli.

I . Piglets were left to suckle their dam for about z days after birth to obtain colostrum and were then divided into four groups. One group was left with the sow, the second was given a standard liquid diet based on cow's milk, the third the standard diet with lactic acid added to give a pH of 4.8, and the fourth the standard diet with the casein content increased by 50 yo.Stomach samples were removed at intervals by stomach tube for pH measurements and bacteriological investigations. The tube was used immediately to give barium sulphate for radiographic examinations and was then withdrawn. Comparisons were made between treatments and between scouring and non-scouring piglets.2. A diarrhoeic (scour) syndrome frequently developed ; this was always preceded by diminishing gastric activity leading to gastric stasis. When spontaneous recovery occurred, there was a return of gastric function before recovery from scours and before the resumption of normal weight gain.3. The incidence, duration and severity of the scour syndrome was less in piglets left on the sow; these differences could not be ascribed to the effect of colostrum. Piglets receiving the lactic acid milk diet had an average gastric pH of I unit less than the other piglets. Although the severity of scour and loss of clinical condition was less in the piglets given lactic acid milk the duration of reduced stomach motility was the same as in the other artificially fed piglets. 4.No obvious correlation was shown between the scour syndrome and the bacterial flora of the stomach or the intestines. The gastro-intestinal tracts of the piglets given lactic acid milk contained fewer bacteria than those of the piglets on the other diets.5. Gross between-treatment differences at post-mortem were evident only in the stomach.6. The spontaneous scour syndrome observed under the conditions of these experiments appeared not to be of bacterial origin but to be associated with a physiological malfunction of the stomach.