Other alleged causes are based on secondary factors that favor inoculation. The alleged evil influence of the hot season (dog days) is accounted for by the period of _rutting_ of the dog which occurs in spring, and brings together troops of jealous dogs following individual bitches and fighting for their favors. This gives a great impetus to the propagation of the disease which accordingly becomes more prevalent during succeeding months. The statistics of Bouley show, however, that the season of its greatest prevalence in France is March, April and May, that it subsides slowly up to midwinter and encreases again in spring. Boudin’s statistics show the greatest number of cases in man toward midsummer which is explained by the long period of inoculation after bites sustained in the spring, but also because clothing is lighter in summer and infection more likely to reach the skin, and because the heat of the weather tends to cause hyperthermia and encrease susceptibility. The large preponderance of male dogs among the victims of rabies (7:1) has led to the theory that sex predisposes, but the explanation is rather that the males bite each other in their jealousy while they respect the female, the object of their sexual passion. In inoculated cases, males, females, and castrated contract the affection indifferently and with equal readiness. The skunk is found to be infected in certain localities, and it has been claimed that the affection is native to this animal, and that the form differs from that which prevails in the dog, but the restriction of the disease to sharply circumscribed areas in Michigan and Kansas, while skunks elsewhere show no such malignant quality, demonstrates that this is but an accidental infection of the family of the Mephitis in a given locality. Men and children suffer in far greater numbers than women, the difference being mainly due to the protection furnished the female by the flowing skirt, though also in part because of the more frequent contact of men with dogs.