Not much has been published about natural lamsiekte in sheep, and, when studying the literature, above all the standard work of Theiler and his co-workers (1927), one must become convinced that the parabotulism in sheep does not play any economic role in the Union of South Africa. Though the South African authors have established the high susceptibility of sheep to the lamsiekte toxin, they state that, contrary to reports received from farmers, no veterinary records show that sheep or goats contracted the disease naturally. They state further that the only reason why sheep do not contract lamsiekte naturally is that they do not develop osteophagia to any appreciable extent, and so do not ingest the toxin. Keywords: Africander and karakul sheep, Lamsiekte in sheep, Parabotulism in sheep, South West Africa.