With the annual increase in the population and the ever deepening human advance into the remoter areas of Ceylon, it has become recognized that the ultimate extermination of the larger fauna of the country is alarmingly close at hand. In fact, only in those reserves that survive the innumerable demands of a rapidly growing country will future generations of Ceylon be able to see their natural heritage in its wild state.

I was on my way to Yala one evening and, near Wilapalawewa, I noticed a leopard lying beneath a tree. I took cover and watched. The leopard was lying on its belly with its forelegs stretched forward and its gaze was fixed on a herd of spotted deer which was grazing about 100 yards away. It kept tossing its tail about but its head and body were motionless. The unsuspecting deer were nibbling the grass and moving slowly forward towards the leopard. As they approached closer and closer the leopard gradually brought its forelegs back close to its body and kept its head low down, but the occasional twitching of the tail continued. When the deer were within 20 yards the leopard became very tense and I knew that the charge was imminent.

On 1st July, 1954, the labourers working at the new lodge site at Aruba dam in the Royal Tsavo National Park, reported having seen a lone elephant calf come down to drink and go off again on its own. On the 3rd July, while watching some elephants watering at the dam, I noticed a small elephant calf wandering about in an aimless fashion at the far end of the dam. This calf made no attempt to join the herd watering, although it must have been aware of their presence, as they were making a considerable noise. After about twenty minutes the herd moved off, and the calf remained at the water's edge. This was obviously the same calf that had been seen by the labourers two days before. The surrounding country was extremely dry and there were several lions in the area, so I felt his chances of survival were pretty remote if left to his own devices. I decided, therefore, to capture him and try to rear him in captivity.

During the past decade the slow retreat of wild life from its former wide range in northern Tanganyika has quickened. In many areas its disappearance is an accomplished fact; in others, such as the north Tanga country, the game population has been reduced to a figure that is probably below the minimum density for continued existence.

The true domesticated cattle are the descendants of a group of races of Bos primigenius, the Urus or Aurochs, as this species is commonly called in Europe. Their economic importance has increased in the course of time as civilization advanced and to-day they are perhaps the most important of all domesticated animals, as producers of meat, milk and hides. It is certain that domestication was undertaken long before 3000 b.c., but nothing is known about its actual beginnings. Many theories have been developed to explain the differences of present-day breeds by deriving them from various types of wild cattle. It is possible also that interspecific crossing has played a part in the development of some of the eastern breeds.

There are two forms of lechwe, the typical Red Lechwe (Onotragus leche leche. Gray) and the Black (O.l. smithemani. Lyd.), while a few surviving in the Mweru area to the north-west of the smithemani race, are of doubtful status. The present paper considers the red lechwe only, and that within Northern Rhodesia proper. The author has no knowledge of the animal outside the territory, nor in the Barotse province.

Lions.—One day I found a pride of fifteen lions gathered round the putrid remains of a hippo cow, lying in shallow water at the edge of a wide sand bank. Dozens of crocodiles, attracted by the tainted air and water, lay basking on the sand, the nearest within twenty yards of the lions. The animals were so engrossed in their affairs, two old males growling and snarling at one another across the carcase, that I was able to stalk them over the bare sand and approach sufficiently closely to photograph them, though not so near as to anything like fill my viewfinder.

The Legal Position.—The Wild Life Protection Act of 1936 is still in force. Section 6 affords complete protection to rhinoceros, tapir, peafowl, Argus pheasant and masked finfoot. But the provision to the said section reads as follows:—

“Provided that it shall not be an offence for any physician or druggist to possess or sell, or for any person to possess for private medical purposes rhinoceros blood or any preparation thereof.”

It was two o'clock in the afternoon in the Serengeti National Park, Tanganyika. Two magnificent maned lions were in front of us, some Thomson's gazelles were grazing around, while sandgrouse and Egyptian geese were drinking at a pool nearby.

So much of Borneo is still uninhabited by man—it must be the leaśt densely populated part of tropical Asia—that it is difficult to imagine its wild fauna being endangered. Much the larger part of the island is still jungle, visited only (if at all) by nomadic groups. But a few species, conspicuous and attractive to humanity for size, food, medicine or beauty, are to-day in danger in all the four territories (Indonesian Borneo, and the British western section comprising North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei).

Devon has had the honour of being the venue for the first Annual Conference of the Mammal Society of the British Isles. Exeter, its county town, housed the conference and though it is not centrally placed for the country as a whole, it deserved consideration because Devon provided the Society with more members in its first year than any other county.

“Unless revolutionary steps are taken to safeguard game, it will sooner or later be extinguished outside the reserves. It is imperative that game within the reserves be restricted for its own safety.”

The most striking and perhaps far-reaching of all the human interferences with Nature witnessed in the present century is that represented by the widespread lowering of water-tables, the correction and regulation of the regime of rivers and the construction of large dams and new artificial lakes, most of which are constructed for the purpose of generating electricity.

Some readers may be surprised to find Oryx printing an article on the sika deer. They know the animal so well as an ornament of many British parks, and as an escaped immigrant which has established itself with remarkable success in many English, Scottish, and Irish woodlands. But the animal of which they are thinking is the Japanese sika. This is only one, and that the smallest and least impressive, of a number of deer which, perhaps mistakenly, are usually regarded as local races of a single, very variable species. For China, as well as Japan, is the home of sika. The Chinese sikas range from the forests of tropical Formosa to the northern snows of East Siberia, beyond China's own boundaries. Among them are found by far the finest deer of the sika type and there is not one of them whose present status should not cause anxiety.

This report is based on two and a half months' work along the western boundary of the park from Ziwani to Lake Jipe and in the adjoining area.

The Poachers.—The tribes reponsible for the poaching in this area are: Mtaveta, Wakamba, Wapore, Wanyasa, Teita. These people are found along the entire western boundary of the Jipe area. During eight months of the year there is not a drop of water inside this part of the park, and every animal must leave it to drink. Poachers are then able to kill game on their doorsteps with little danger of being caught, and the meat can be cut up and removed at once leaving no trace. During the rains, when waterholes are full and game scattered, small gangs operate far afield into the park.

Although the electric fence has been proved a successful deterrent to crop-raiding deer, pig, gaur and other wild animals, I hesitate to sing its praises against elephant.

The Arctic is being thrown open to man; meteorological stations, air fields and defence bases are spreading northwards. We ought to consider carefully the animals whose territory we are thus invading, if we are to avoid a repetition of the tragic effects of man's impact on the fauna of other new countries.

Until nearly the end of the nineteenth century about two-thirds of Southern Rhodesia was uninhabitable by domestic cattle, and thus, to a great extent, unusable by mankind whether European or native, because of the disease trypanosomiasis. In man this is called sleeping sickness, in cattle nagana. It is caused by trypanosomes, minute organisms which live in the blood of the victims of the disease. These trypanosomes are sucked up, with the blood of the infected man or beast, by blood-sucking tsetse flies, develop in the fly and may be transmitted to the next creature on which the fly feeds.

Fish inhabiting shallow coastal waters in all accessible parts of the world are at this moment in the process of being exterminated, through the mass invasion of these waters by spear-fishermen. On the Mediterranean shores of France and Spain, and all round the coastline of Italy the process is almost complete, so far as several species of fish are concerned, and we learn from the magazines of spear-fishing enthusiasts, of new centres of their sport being continually established on the more remote coasts of the Adriatic, of Greece and of North Africa.

Readers of Oryx, and members of the society who came to the Annual General Meeting in April, will realize the importance for the preservation of the red lechwe, of Lochinvar Ranch on the Kafue flats, Northern Rhodesia.