616 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



permitted. (Federal Forest, Game, and Fish Inspection, in Hit., 

 June, 1936, and March, 1937.) 



Germany. The species has been exterminated here since the 

 fifteenth century but has lately been reintroduced into the Bavarian 

 Alps, where it is protected by law (Internationale Gesellschaft zur 

 Erhaltung des Wisents, in litt., October, 1936) . 



France. The date of the disappearance of the Alpine Ibex in this 

 country does not seem to be definitely fixed. Schinz writes (1838, 

 p. 20) that the high prices offered for museum specimens have con- 

 tributed to its decrease in Savoy. Trouessart states (1884, pp. 279- 

 280) that it has become very rare and is scarcely found save on 

 the massif of Monte Rosa, Italy; also that the female, at need, 

 defends its young with its horns against the attack of Eagle or Lam- 

 mergayer. Later Trouessart writes (1910, p. 237) that it is extermi- 

 nated in Savoy. 



E. Bourdelle writes (in litt., March, 1937) that the Ibex still ex- 

 isted in the highest parts of the Alps in very small numbers at the 

 end of the last century, but can now be considered extinct in France. 

 Perhaps the restocking of certain areas in the former range of the 

 species could be considered. 



Italy. At the beginning of the nineteenth century some indi- 

 viduals were still found in the vicinity of Monte Rosa and the 

 Cervino. The reserve of Gran Paradiso was established by Victor 

 Emanuel II and completed in 1854. Thus protected, the Ibex in- 

 creased to about 600 in 1879 and 3,020 in 1914. In 1922 Gran Para- 

 diso was made a National Park. Through relaxed supervision during 

 the World War some of the Ibex had been killed off, but by 1927 

 their numbers had risen again to 2,800. Some are found outside the 

 park in adjacent territory. (Colosi, 1933, pp. 34-35.) 



"The ibex in the Piedmontese Alps is holding its own, largely 

 because when Dr. Zumstein contrived [in 1816] to have it made 

 Royal Game he knew nothing of the modern 'control-methods/ and 

 a vanishing species re-established itself so firmly by a natural 

 process that it should survive for an indefinite period" (H. W. Shoe- 

 maker, in litt., November 18, 1932). 



"At Abruzzi in Italy ... a large national reserve has been estab- 

 lished chiefly for sub-alpine plants and animals and now contains 

 ibex, chamois, brown bears, and wolves" (Mitchell, 1931, p. 36). 



The Field (October 7, 1933) announced that by order of the 

 Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forests "the male ibex may be 

 shot from now until the end of the year. The shooting fee is lire 

 8,000 (about 130 pounds) for the first head, and lire 6,000 (about 

 100 pounds) for additional heads, so it would not appear that any- 

 great inroads will be made on the existing herds. ... It is esti- 

 mated that there are at present" in the Gran Paradiso area "about 



