( cxiv ) 



I may mention incidentally that the buffaloes in Buffalo 

 Park are preserved on an area which consists largely of 

 prairie, so that the preservation of the buffalo on this 

 land not only preserves that animal, but also a con- 

 siderable area of virgin prairie land, which, in the United 

 States of America, is already difficult to find. To most 

 of us who have read Fenimore Cooper's books, or perhaps 

 " The Adventures of M. Valerie," it is difficult to believe 

 that a sample of those vast prairies is hard to discover; but 

 when a party of botanical ecologists not long ago visited the 

 United States, they had great difficulty in discovering a 

 suitable area. Another of our Dominions which has made 

 mighty efforts to conserve its fauna and flora is the Dominion 

 of New Zealand. The Dominion of New Zealand has several 

 special reserves set apart for their birds, such as Stewart 

 Island. But in addition to this they have a preservation of 

 Scenery Department, which has really effected wonderful 

 results. Up to the 31st of March last year New Zealand 

 possessed 430 reserves, embracing an area of 274,000 acres. 

 Here, again, the areas which have been preserved have been 

 selected primarily for their beauty, but the native fauna and 

 flora have incidentally been preserved also, while a private 

 Society, The New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society, 

 modelled on The Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, 

 is endeavouring to get similar areas, which are the haunts of 

 specially rare and vanishing species of plants and insects, 

 secured for permanent preservation. When it is considered 

 that New Zealand is more or less the same size as Great 

 Britain, it is much to be regretted that the area of our own 

 reserves is not proportionately as large. The Government has 

 already spent more than £100,000 in achieving these ends. 

 Tasmania has reserved certain localities, possessing remarkably 

 fine scenery and waterfalls, some 7,500 acres in extent. South 

 Australia has ten bird-protection districts, aggregating 108,000 

 acres, and three reserves for fauna and flora containing 96,000 

 acres. One of these, the National Park of Belair, embraces 

 2000 acres. In Western Australia, King's Park and Mount 

 Eliza near Perth, 1000 acres, are reserved, and 160,000 acres 

 in the Murray District. There is also a further reserve for 



PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND., V. 1915. K 



