( cxlviii ) 



Sweden is well in the fore in the preservation of nature, 

 and has made great and astonishing efforts to secure this 

 end. They have a government department which has made 

 and is making every effort to secure the preservation of their 

 fauna and flora. The well-known naturalist, A. E. Norden- 

 skiold, urged, as long ago as 1880, the desirability of estab- 

 lishing national parks, v/hich he called " Pictures of nature 

 for the future," and he further urged the desirability of afford- 

 ing protection to sea-birds, water-lilies, and that most inter- 

 esting plant, the Water-nut {Trapa natans). This plant, 

 which has, even to-day, a very wide distribution taking in 

 various local races, extending from Sweden to China, is dis- 

 appearing all over the A¥orld, chiefly owing to drainage. There 

 is strong reason to believe, from the examination of peat 

 deposits, that it once flourished in England, and in com- 

 paratively recent times. It certainly did so in Holland, where 

 it is now extinct, but it still lingers in Sweden, in Germany, 

 in one locality in Hungary, in France, and in some other 

 countries. Nordenskiold's efforts were not altogether crowned 

 with success, but at a later date the Government and the 

 universities started working together, and they have classified 

 the various wild areas that exist in Sweden in order that an 

 adequate selection of reserves can be made. They, further, 

 have endeavoured to secure the co-operation of private 

 owners to frame laws for the protection of species, and to 

 establish reserves. Expropriation can even be employed in 

 certain cases. The result of the joint endeavours of the 

 universities and the Government of Sweden has been to 

 establish ten national parks, the five largest of which are in 

 the north, and the other five in the centre of Sweden. The 

 areas embraced are really very large, and there is no doubt 

 that Sweden possesses the largest area of nature reserves of 

 any European country. The largest of the Swedish national 

 parks is Sarjek National Park, which is 500 square miles, 

 while the Stora Sjofallet and the Abisko National Park are 

 some 300 and 100 square miles respectively. 



The next European country I should like to mention is 

 Switzerland. The Swiss have shown their usual energy and 

 sagacity in making national reserves. The prime mover in 



