ZOOLOGY 21 y 



and is likewise responsible for many scientific publications. Only 

 the two last-named have received special grants from the Union 

 Government for scientific publications. Durban has a Municipal 

 Museum which contains exhibits of considerable educational 

 value, but is not a research institution. The zoological depart- 

 ments of the several universities undertake research in many sub- 

 jects, and have collections or museums in connection with both 

 research and teaching. 



The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa at Pretoria, 

 under Dr. R. Bigalke, have a representative collection of living 

 animals from the Union and elsewhere, and it is hoped to develop 

 the gardens into a centre of research as funds permit. There are 

 a number of national parks and sanctuaries for wild animals, the 

 most important being the Kruger National Park in the Transvaal, 

 which has its own warden, Colonel Stevenson-Hamilton, and staff. 



Research at most of the institutions mentioned above has been 

 concerned primarily with taxonomic studies, and the accurate 

 naming of animals. This branch of zoology is now sufhcientlv 

 well advanced in South Africa for study of the animals in the living 

 state to be of real value. Accordingly, in recent years interest in 

 ecological work has developed. Some of the researches under- 

 taken by agriculturalists, veterinarians, etc., are concerned with 

 animal as well as plant ecology. Dr. R. Bigalke (1934), in making 

 a plea for an organized ecological survey of the Union, points out 

 that from 191 1 to 1933 the provinces spent a total of ^^607,674 in 

 connection with fish and game preservation and the destruction 

 of vermin, and suggests that a biological survey would furnish 

 scientific information which would lead to more efficient use of such 

 funds. The survey would be a unit of the department of agricul- 

 ture, and would devote consideration to pressing economic prob- 

 lems such as the control of predatory animals, noxious rodents and 

 rabies transmitters, and the relation of wild birds to agriculture. 

 He recommends a staff of not less than six biologists with zoology 

 as their principal subject and botany and geology as subsidiaries. 



Southern Rhodesia has two museums, each with good collections 

 of fauna: the Rhodesian Museum at Bulawayo and the Salisbury 

 Museum. At the former the senior curator, Mr. Arnold, is a 

 zoologist who has published many contributions on taxonomies^ 



