( cxxxvii ) 



It is necessary to mention at this point several other 

 Societies which have been doing excellent work with regard 

 to the preservation of the big game inhabitants of the globe : 

 The Society for the preservation of the Fauna of the Empire, the 

 Zoological Society of London, and others ; it is generally owing 

 to their efforts that the splendid series of big game reserves in 

 Africa, India and some other places have been established. 



Finally, I would bring to your notice a comparatively new 

 society, the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, 

 whose object is to further this laudable purpose in every way 

 it can. It is much to be hoped that the efforts it has been 

 and is making will be successful, and they are efforts which 

 especially appeal to the Fellows of the Entomological Society, 

 as I am convinced that it is only by means of nature reserves 

 carefully selected and representing all types of country in 

 the British Islands that anything like a large proportion of 

 the insects that inhabit this island to-day can be preserved 

 for posterity. 



The Commons Preservation Society may also be cited as 

 an illustration of a society whose objects are not primarily 

 directed to the preservation of animals and plants, but whose 

 excellent action in preserving commons tends to secure this end. 



I have now, gentlemen, outlined to you in a very brief, 

 and, I fear, possibly perfunctory manner, the growth of the 

 idea of the desirability of preserving nature and of effecting 

 this object by means of the so-called nature reserve. We 

 have seen that a nature reserve is an area, perhaps small, 

 perhaps large, which is kept, as far as it is possible to do so, 

 in its natural wild condition, with a view to the fauna and 

 flora within the area flourishing undisturbed. With all the 

 changes that are continually going on round the area in 

 question, it is doubtful whether it can really be kept in its 

 natural state, but to some extent this object can doubtless 

 be attained. 



Small areas surrounded by land under cultivation or by 

 pastures cannot be turned into nature reserves simply by 

 leaving them waste. The conditions under which such a 

 small area would exist are quite artificial, and the result would 

 be that certain species of plants would swamp the others. 



