Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/65

Rh useful guide to naturalists or others proceeding to Khartoum. Routes and expenses are detailed. There are several restrictions. Anyone wishing to take skins, horns, &c, of any ruminant through Egypt must obtain a special permit, and the specimens must be packed in hermetically and Government-sealed tin-lined boxes or tins. Live ruminants—in consequence of the possibility of cattle plague being introduced—can only be exported viâ Suakim.

Mr. of New York, has sent us a privately printed Bibliography of the scientific results obtained by the 'Challenger' Expedition at and near Bermuda. To students of insular faunas this digest should prove a very great convenience.

whilst on his recent tour in Burma, gave an interesting reply to an address from the Burma Game Preservation Society. Speaking of game preservation in India and Burma, he said that, though he yielded to no one in his love for sport, he had to look at the question in the public interest, and he had no doubt that wild life in India was on the decrease. Thus Lions were shot in Central India up to the Mutiny; they are now confined to an ever-decreasing patch of forest in Kathiawar. Except in the native States, the Terai, and the forest preserves, Tigers are undoubtedly diminishing. The Rhinoceros is all but exterminated, except in Assam. Bison are not so numerous nor so easy to obtain as they once were. Elephants have already had to be protected in some parts; above all, Deer are rapidly dwindling, and many beautiful and harmless varieties of birds are pursued for their plumage. The causes of all this decrease in the wild life in India are various; some are natural in consequence of the increase of cultivation and population; others are artificial, such as the great increase in the number of persons carrying firearms of range and precision, the depredations of native hunters, and the shooting of immature animals and females. Some argued that wild animals were bound to disappear in India as surely as Wolves had in England, while others said that India was so vast, and had such large forest preserves, that wild animals may safely be left to look after themselves; but he did not agree with either of these propositions. Wild animals, he said, must not be fostered at the expense of the people, and the cultivator must have reasonable means of protection. The Government, hitherto, have not been very bold in their legislation; Elephants have been protected, a close season for certain kinds of