lo T. A. Coward — Presidential Address 



in specimens, is constantly blamed for the damage he does, 

 for his looting is wholesale, but he would very soon turn his 

 attention to some other method of gaining a living were he 

 not patronized ; it is the hoarding private collector, the man 

 who pretends to be but so seldom is scientific, who is really 

 responsible. 



It must, however, be admitted, as even Xewton was forced 

 to admit, that the Acts, in spite of their blundering, have 

 accomplished much. Public feeling was and is strong, and, 

 backed by indifferent legislation, it has so far checked destruc- 

 tion that many species have benefited. Here comes an anti- 

 climax ; some of the species, actively or passively protected, 

 have increased so enormously that they have exceeded the 

 natural limits, overweighted the balance, and it is questionable 

 whether further protection is or is not desirable. The aesthetic 

 and humanitarian school are shocked at any suggestion of 

 relaxation ; the economic and scientific are in doubt, the first 

 because personal interests are affected, the second because of 

 the uncertainty of interference with nature's balance. 



The world is a big place, but it is a very varied one ; its 

 inhabitants, whether human or otherwise, are unevenly dis- 

 tributed. Vast tracts are sparsely populated, others are sadly 

 congested, but there is reason for the irregularity. The 

 unpopulated areas are unfit, at any rate during a portion of 

 the year, for a crowded population ; the congested areas are 

 the ones where food is obtainable. When we exclude from 

 our thoughts colonising man, who has the power to some 

 extent of altering the whole face of a country, we see that the 

 lower forms must either remain in or travel to and from the 

 best food-supplying districts or perish. Britain is a typically 

 crowded area, and is so well stocked with various forms of life 

 that we may treat it as a fair example of a food area. It 

 supplies just the necessary amount of food to make life 

 endurable for just that number of creatures which it can 

 support ; in other words, there are enough and not too many 

 of each form existing within its bounds, and this required 

 number depends entirelv upon the seasonal supply of vege- 

 table food, and the balanced and regular supply of animal 

 food which depends upon the vegetation. Any shortage, due 

 to climatic variation, of the vegetable food supply, is imme- 

 diately followed by famine, which means not onlv famine for 

 the phytophagous but for the carnivorous forms ; a good year, 

 an increased output of cultivation, the introduction of a new 

 or alien crop, is followed by an increase of veg^etable feeders, 

 an increase of their natural enemies, and of the creatures which 



