ZOOLOGY 221 



istrative department has been seconded from 1937 to act as game 

 warden and to start a department. 



In the West African Colonies the game ordinances are adminis- 

 tered by District Officers. In most parts very Httle game is left, the 

 chief agent which has led to their destruction being indiscriminate 

 slaughter by natives, nearly all of whom possess firearms. In the 

 Gold Coast for instance, elephants, formerly numerous, are now 

 according to Colonel Haywood (1932), reduced to about three 

 hundred. This writer considers that a game warden and staff 

 should be shared between Nigeria and the Gold Coast. The Gold 

 Coast has a large game reserve on the Afram Plains, an area far 

 removed and almost uninhabited, so that supervision of game pro- 

 tection is difficult. Recent proposals by F. S. Collier for Nigeria 

 are referred to later. In Sierra Leone, Colonel Haywood suggested 

 that as the game belongs essentially to the forest country, the 

 forestry department could undertake its supervision. It appears 

 that additions to the existing forestry staff would be necessary. 



FRENCH 



In Paris the Musee National d'Histoire Naturelle, with numerous 

 departments under zoological specialists, serves the same purpose 

 for the French colonies as the British Museum (Natural History) 

 does for the British. In accordance with the general French policy 

 in scientific development, of centralizing research experts in 

 France and seconding experts for short-term work in the colonies, 

 the museum in Paris has taken an active part in African questions 

 (see Chapter IX). 



A number of game reserves are established in French West and 

 Equatorial Africa, and are in charge of the agriculture and forests 

 branch of the Service Economique. Several of the game reserves are 

 also forest reserves. There is no special staff to deal with wild 

 animals or to police the reserves, but it is hoped shortly to establish 

 one in West Africa. 



BELGIAN 



The Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle in Brussels is a headquarters 

 of Belgian zoological activity. It is under the directorship of Dr. 

 V. van Straelen, who is also President of the Pares Nationaux du 



