ZOOLOGY 213 



and there is some evidence that monitor lizards consume crocodile 

 eggs and rodents, so the unrestricted slaughter of reptiles would 

 probably have unfortunate results. 



Game is at present unpopular with most government depart- 

 ments, settlers, and natives alike, though this attitude is tempered 

 with a sentimental feeling. Settlers and agricultural officers dislike 

 game because it eats crops, natives for the same reason and because 

 the large carnivora sometimes eat both them and their stock, veteri- 

 nary officers and tsetse workers because game carries disease and 

 competes for pasture. It is possible, however, to find arguments 

 of various kinds for its preservation. There are large areas, for 

 instance, where wild animals provide the only meat available for 

 native consumption, and there are arid regions which are never 

 likely to be of value for agriculture, but which may always support 

 wild mammals, if placed under proper management. In addition 

 there is the argument, which has already been mentioned, for 

 their preservation as a national asset. 



Conservation and control are the special objects of the game 

 departments which, though sometimes regarded as luxury depart- 

 ments, in general more than pay for themselves in the sale of 

 licences and the recovery of ivory, either illicit or found in the 

 bush, or obtained from elephants shot in controlling the number 

 and distribution of herds for the purposes of protecting crops. In 

 some territories, for example Northern Rhodesia, where a game 

 department was only established in 1937, following on a survey 

 of the fauna, the commercialization of game has not been on a 

 scale to ensure that a department could be financially self-support- 

 ing. This raises the question whether commercialization is a con- 

 dition precedent to the formation of game departments or whether 

 game departments are necessary preliminaries to satisfactory con- 

 trol of commercial exploitation. Experience in other East African 

 territories indicates that special departments are necessary in the 

 interests both of those who wish to enjoy the wild fauna by sport 

 or study and those who need protection from its ravages. Without 

 such organization, commercial exploitation may not only proceed 

 in directions which are harmful to those interests, but sources of 

 potential revenue are wasted. The revenue-earning capacity of 

 game departments has led to the suggestion that policy in certain 



