TEACHING OF FXONOMIC NATURAL HISTORY. 585 



breeding season in order that we may be able to enjoy the sport 

 of shooting them later. A host of other birds prey upon locusts 

 and grasshoppers. The majority of these birds are under the 

 protection of the law ; but owing to the prevailing ignorance of 

 their identity and habits, the people continue, as of old, to 

 destro}' them wantonly. 



For the past ten years it has been one of the departments of 

 our work at the Port Elizabeth Museum to write on Economic 

 Natural History to the South African Press, and disseminate 

 pamphlets on the subject. At intervals, my Board of Trustees 

 has kindly allowed me to make tours in various parts of the 

 Eastern Province of the Cape, and give lantern lectures to schools 

 and the general public on these subjects. Although this work is 

 entirely in the public interest. I have never received any conces- 

 sion in my railway fare, notwithstanding repeated rerpesentations 

 having been made to the Railway Department. This attitude is, 

 to sav the least, distinctly discouraging. 



The curriculum of schools. I am aware, will not bear much 

 adding to. I would venture the opinion that in public schools 

 some of the teaching could, with advantage, be made more prac- 

 tical. Nature study is being encouraged in many of the schools, 

 but it needs directing. At present it, as a general rule, takes the , 

 •form of trifling lessons of absolutely no economic value. The 

 trouble is due to the lack of suitable literature. No encourage- 

 ment isgixen authors to provide the necessarv literattire ; and men 

 who have made a life study of these subjects, which are of such 

 high importance to South Africa, are obliged to waste their time 

 carrying on work which a less experienced subordinate could do. 

 The services of such men should be utilised, so that future genera- 

 tions may benefit by their life's labours, instead of allowing them 

 to depart this life leaving no records. 



A widespread system of teaching Economic Natural History 

 in the schools of the Union could be launched with the minimum 

 of exDen=p. For instance — 



(i) The production of literature on South African Economic 

 Natural History could be encouraged by the Educa- 

 tional Department guaranteeing tO' take a certain 

 number of copies for distribution tO' schools in order to 

 partlv safeguard the author or publisher against 

 financial loss. 

 (2) (a) The Government could make it one of the denart- 

 ments of activity of all the public museums in the 

 Union to provide the schools within a given area with 

 suitable, named, collections of specimens of natural 

 history ; (b) to work up an exhibition department in the 

 museum on Economic Natural History ; (c) to make 

 the most of the natural history specimens in the 

 museum by providing explanatory labels with the same 

 obiect in view ; (d) to provide information to school 

 teachers on economic natural history subjects on 

 application. 



